


Letters: OMG..., The

by thebasement_archivist



Category: The X-Files
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2001-12-31
Updated: 2001-12-31
Packaged: 2018-11-20 21:25:46
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 32,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11343468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebasement_archivist/pseuds/thebasement_archivist
Summary: Doggett gets an unexpected visitor, a night out and a seeing-to.





	Letters: OMG..., The

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Basement](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Basement), which moved to the AO3 to ensure the stories are always available and so that authors may have complete control of their own works. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in June 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [The Basement's collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thebasement/profile).

 

The Letters: OMG... by Forbes

Title: The Letters: OMG...  
Author: Forbes  
Rating: N17  
Summary: Sk/D/OFC This is the third in a series. Follows 'Letter D, For Doggett' and 'Letter F, For...' Doggett gets an unexpected visitor, a night out and a seeing-to.  
WARNING: CONTAINS SLASH, HET, AND THREE-SOME  
Disclaimer: yaddah yaddah... not mine etc..  
Spoilers: Nope.  
Archive: Sure, just let me know, please.  
Feedback: Yes please... Tell me I'm not just playing with myself, cos there's a name for that.... Come talk to me at:   
(And by the way - the story doesn't go where you might assume, so don't freak out. Not even I could do that...)

* * *

Chapter 1.

Cafeteria, FBI Headquarters  
Friday morning.  
8.30 a.m.

It was easy, thought Doggett, sorting through the little box on the table. Easier than he'd ever imagined.

Although if he was honest, the whole idea of him conducting an affair with his direct superior, was not one that featured in any of his idle moments. Especially his male superior.

Digging out a couple of sugar packets, Doggett slowly tore the top off one.

But it had turned out to be easier than most other relationships he'd ever had. Including his marriage.

It was quite simple.

Sometimes Skinner came over and they would spend the evening drinking beer, feet up on the table, watching the sports channel. Sometimes they'd eat a meal, then lie in bed and talk. Other times, Skinner would show up and they'd rip each other's clothes off and make love any place between the front door and his bedroom.

He dumped a second packet of sugar in his coffee and stirred, a small smile on his lips.

All in all, quite a well-rounded relationship.

Except that it was conducted in secret, couched in deception and discussed in code. And that was a little disconcerting, if understandably sagacious, considering the capacity for the big shit/fan scene.

So perhaps it wasn't all that easy, after all.

Once, when he was in his late teens, he'd had a thing with a married woman - what you might call his own personal Mrs. Robinson. But in his case, Mrs. Pearsall had not only been responsible for teaching him advanced algebra, but also how to make love with the skill of a man twice his age. How to take a woman to his bed with the axiom, 'Ladies First' firmly in place.

A fact for which he was sure all his later lovers had been very appreciative. He grinned at the memories of that summer. It sounded like a bad country & western song. 'Breakin' The Boy In'

The lessons that Mrs. Pearsall taught him had been hard, hot and very well learned. She was as tough teaching math, as she had been teaching the art of love.

He sipped his drink and wondered what she was doing now, after he'd spent nearly twenty five years putting her lessons into practise. He grinned. Never needed advanced algebra quite the way he'd needed her other teaching.

She'd gotta be nearly... He did the math in his head and shook it, frowning. God.

That made him feel old, never mind Mrs. Pearsall.

Sometimes, his relationship with Skinner felt a bit like that time of his life.

Like he was doing something he shouldn't. Which, quite frankly at his age, was ridiculous.

He sipped his coffee and watched the activity in the cafeteria without seeing it. He was looking at Gloria Pearsall's face in his mind. Her face under his. Smiling, moving his hands, telling him not there... but, there.

What would she make of him and Skinner, he wondered? Would she be outraged, or intrigued?

Would she consider it a waste?

He frowned. Of all the labels he put on himself, husband, father, policeman, Marine... He never considered himself part of the pink triangle brigade. No way would John Jay Doggett ever wear some little red ribbon on his lapel.

Was that delusional of him?

Staring at the scrunched - up sugar packets, Doggett frowned harder.

Did the fact that he allowed another man to touch him, kiss him, enter his body make him queer? Or did he need to walk funny, wear a sweater over his shoulders and whistle show-tunes to qualify?

Skinner had shit himself laughing when he'd asked his opinion. Laughed, kissed him hard and told him to stop worrying about putting a label on himself, and just enjoy. Doggett smiled. Yeah, enjoy.

"Join you?"

He looked up from his coffee. Mulder. Great.

"Help yourself." he heard himself say.

Mulder coiled himself into the plastic cafeteria chair. Neither man spoke for long minutes. Mulder noisily sipped at his cup, driving Dogget to distraction. He opened his mouth to say something about Mulder's table-manners.

"You don't like me, do you?"

Doggett looked at the other man in guilty surprise.

"What?"

"Me. You." Mulder made a see-saw motion with his hand..

Doggett shrugged. "Whaddya want me to say to that, Agent Muldah?"

"The truth."

Doggett smiled tightly. "The truth?"

"Works for me."

Doggett stared hard at the other man. The truth. "Okay." He folded his arms and took a breath.

"I think you're opinionated, arrogant and annoying,"

"Ouch."

"I'm not done."

Mulder raised an eyebrow.

"You're all of those things in spades. However... I also think you're uncompromisingly honest, a brilliant psychologist, and a dedicated Agent." Doggett shrugged. "So whether or not I 'like' you doesn't come into it. I'll back you up. Why should you care about anything else?"

Mulder grinned. "Call me insecure."

Doggett stared at him, deadpan. "You're insecure."

Laughing, Mulder pointed. "There, I knew you had a sense of humor buried underneath all those frown-lines."

"Don't bet on it."

There was another long silence.

"Skinner likes you."

No. There was no way he was going to react to that. He just sipped his drink, and grunted non-commitally.

Mulder said nothing for a while. Doggett wondered where the other man's thoughts were going.

"Scully likes you."

Doggett didn't know quite what to say to that. 'I know' sounded arrogant, 'really?' Sounded stupid, and 'good', was just plain daft. So he just nodded slowly.

"So..." Mulder fiddled with his cup. He sighed.

"What?"

Hazel eyes stared unwaveringly into his.

"I'm going to be a good boy, for now on," He said, holding out his hand. "Honest."

Doggett looked at the hand. Wonders would never cease. He let the hand hover for a moment.

Was it going to be that easy to call a truce between them?

"No more wise-cracks?"

"Nope."

Hah. He wouldn't hold his breath over that. He lifted an eyebrow.

"And the sarcastic comments?"

"Uh-uh."

Yeah, we'd see.

Doggett held up a finger and pointed it between Mulder's eyes. "You'll leave the innuendoes at home?"

"Yep."

This was too good to be true. No more snide comments about his sexuality? About Skinner? How 'bout that?

Gingerly, he took the hand in his. It was warm and dry, which was a relief. They shook, but Doggett kept hold longer than customary. He wasn't done, yet.

"Why, Agent Muldah?"

Mulder squirmed and tried to get his hand free. "No reason."

Doggett increased the pressure of his hand, just a fraction. "Why?"

Mulder wriggled more, his eyes widening. "You're not going to get all alpha, on me, are you, Agent Doggett?"

"I thought the innuendoes were staying at home."

Mulder laughed nervously. "Hard habit to break."

"I'll bet." He kept hold. "So... Why?"

Mulder looked down to where they were joined, having stopped struggling. He seemed to have accepted the inevitable. He sighed.

"Scully."

Doggett frowned. "Pardon me?"

"Scully. She said..." Mulder trailed off, obviously embarrassed.

"Yes?"

"She said if I didn't back off, she'd hurt me."

Doggett let the hand slip away, incredulous. "You push me til I very nearly punch your smart-assed mouth in, and still don't quit. But a woman barely five feet tall threatens you, and you're all of a sudden Marvin the Meek?"

"That's Martian," Mulder smiled. "You're mixing your metaphors."

Doggett looked at him as if he had crawled out from under his food. "Whatever. Are you deranged, Agent Muldah?"

"Just cautious, Agent Doggett."

Doggett shook his head, incredulous. "I'd say more ass-backwards."

Mulder leaned in slightly. "She's a doctor," he said.

"So?"

"She knows ways..."

Doggett's mind gave him a sudden potential insight into the Mulder/Scully relationship that he really didn't appreciate at that time in the morning. He narrowed his eyes.

"What d'you mean?" he asked, hating himself for asking.

Mulder shook his head, sadly. "Ways to hurt a man."

Relief flooded Doggett's mind. Okay. He could handle that. He allowed a small smile to creep across his face.

"I'd have thought that was right up your alley, Agent Muldah," he said, rising to leave.

The other man stared up at him.

"What do you mean by that?" he squeaked.

Doggett shrugged and walked away. "Nuthin'." By the look of it, he'd just hit one of Mulder's buttons with a Mack truck.

"No..." Mulder was getting up to follow. "You had to mean something."

"Didn't mean a thing, Agent Muldah." God, this Scully-Immunity was fun.

"But you implied..."

"Didn't imply anything, Agent."

"But..."

Doggett stopped suddenly, and Mulder crashed into the back of him, jerking away as if expecting a blow.

"Is there somethin' you wanna share with me, Fox?"

The look of distress on Mulder's face was worth its weight in gold. He must remember to get Agent Scully a little somethin' special for lunch. He grinned and turned away.

Friday was lookin' up, all of a sudden.

*

Chapter 2.

Falls Church, Friday evening.  
7 p.m.

The phone rang again. Padding over the kitchen floor, Doggett snagged up the receiver. It would no doubt be Skinner again, checking up to see he'd put the oven on. He'd called fifteen minutes ago, barking out instructions and a little spot of phone-porn, concerning the direction the evening was going to take, once he got here.

He smiled. Maybe the other man had found a quiet corner of the take-out restaurant to breath filth down the phone to him. That'd be good.

"Yeah?"

"Hi John, honey. It's me." Doggett's mouth fell open in surprise.

"Sal! How ya doin', sweetheart?" A grin spread over his face at the sound of his little sister's voice.

"I'm good. You?"

Doggett thought about the man on his way over, and grinned wider.

"I'm great." His mind conjured an image of Skinner's naked chest. He was great, alright.

"Hey, big guy... how much d'ya love your little sis?"

Leaning against the wall, Doggett chuckled. "Depends on how much she wants to borrow."

"Oh, you dipshit! I don't want money!"

The outrage in Sal's voice made him want to laugh out loud.

"That's a relief."

"Gimme a break, here. I haven't mooched off you since College."

"I remember a certain '67 Dodge..."

He pulled the phone from his ear as a loud raspberry echoed down the line.

"Hey! Bite me,. Dogboy."

"No thanks. Not up to date with my shots."

"John..."

"Okay, okay." He held up his hand. "Peace. What can I do for ya, babe?"

"Be nice?"

He grinned. "Sure. What else?"

"How d'you fancy a houseguest, this weekend?"

A long moment passed, while Doggett got a mental blast of Skinner's body.

The phone was rapped at the other end.

"Hey. You still there, Big Dog?"

Pushing the image away, Doggett's mouth quirked on hearing that name, and Skinner's smiling face appeared, distracting as hell. He tried to focus on his sister.

"Yeah."

"So whaddya say? Me. Your place. Stayin' over."

Frowning, Doggett pushed himself away from the wall. Shit. How was he gonna tell Skinner he'd been bumped? No way he could stay over tonight, with Sal in the spare room. Uh-uh.

On the phone, his sister's voice took on an embarrassed air.

"Look, if it's a problem, I'll just call the Ramada..."

"Hey, no..."

"I don't wanna mess up your plans or anything."

"Sallly..."

"I just thought..."

Doggett rubbed his eyes. Skinner would understand. He have a long chat with him tonight. Explain what happened.

"Sally. I'd love to have you stay." He gestured into the empty kitchen. "Come on over. No problem."

"You sure?"

"I'm sure."

"Sally laughed down the line. "Say, JD - you haven't got hoards of loose women there, have you?"

Doggett smiled. "No. You little madam. I don't got loose women here."

"That's 'haven't' got, doofus."

"Yeah, yeah." Once a teacher....

She laughed again.

"Thank God. Last thing I wanna do is bust up big bro's red-hot love-fest."

The image of Skinner's body bounced back into his head, still naked, still gorgeous. Doggett could feel himself go all warm. He wouldn't be in a rush to tell his sister the details of this particular love-fest. He cleared his throat.

"Ha-ha. Very funny. What kinda area you think I live in?"

"Hey! Single guy, big city... I read the tabloids."

"Yeah, well you need to broaden your horizons." His mind recoiled at the thought of just how broad Sally's horizons would become should he tell her about her big brother and a certain Walter Skinner.

"Doin' just that, babe. Big seminar in DC. Inclusivity and Differentiation In Action."

He grunted. "Sounds fun."

"Yeah, well. Short-straw syndrome. I need the extra credit and I want the promotion. Plus I get to see my big brother, into the bargain."

"Will you need collectin' from the airport, when you get in?"

"Uh-uh. Thanks, but I already got a taxi."

The blood leeched from his face. "A taxi?"

"Yeah. You know... Wheels, driver?"

God. She wasn't, was she?

The doorbell chimed.

Shit.

"Get the door, John honey," Sal told him down the line. "I feel like Orphan Annie standin' here."

*

Chapter 2.

Doggett stood, idiot-like, with the phone in his hand and a stunned expression on his face.

Shit! What was it with women turning up on his doorstep?

"John?" The phone spoke to him, and he looked at it, stupidly. "The door?" it said.

Shit.

Slamming the phone back, he made his way to the front door, mentally running through options on calling Skinner before he showed up.

He wrenched the door open and stared at the woman on the stoop, thoughts of panicky phone-calls momentarily driven from his mind.

"Hi," his sister said, grinning the lop-sided Doggett-grin, her arms stretching out to him.

"Hi, yourself," he replied, feeling a similar smile creeping up over his own face.

Damn.

He stepped forward into her open arms and pulled them together into a tight embrace.

It had been nearly two years since he'd last seen her. The familiarity of the arms round his back brought a rush of fond memories that meant he would be willing to forgive her anything. Including ruining a carnal Friday night.

"Hey, Big Dawg," she snuffled into his neck. "Missed me?"

Squeezing tight for a second longer, then pulling away, Doggett grinned down at her, shaking his head. "Nah!"

"Liar!" she said, sticking out her tongue.

He made to grab it, and it disappeared back into her mouth under a smile. Lightening-fast, her finger came up and flicked an ear.

"Wing-nut," she said, laughing.

Just as quickly, he grabbed her finger. He bent it back gently. "Not the ears," he growled, smiling.

"Ooh! Touchy-touchy," she said, inadvertently bringing Skinner crashing between them.

Letting her fingers go, Doggett took a deep breath to calm himself, and bent to retrieve her bag.

"Come on in, then. Don' stand there all night." Dropping the bag on the couch, he turned and stepped back.

"So let's have a look, then."

The fifteen years between them showed in her perfect, shoulder-length ash-blond hair, and unmarked face. He hoped she wasn't going to inherit the patent Doggett-lines he'd found etched into his own face one day.

She held out her hands. "A little older, a little heavier."

"No way. Older maybe..." He laughed at her expression. "But still just gorgeous."

"Oh, I just love a sweet-talkin' man!" She slipped her jacket off her shoulders and he took it from her.

He noted that as he folded it carefully over the back of the chair, she was looking him up and down.

"Well?" he asked, smiling at the scrutiny. "Do I pass the test?"

She nodded. "You're lookin' pretty good, for an old guy."

"Gee, thanks."

She cocked her head at him. "You cut your hair short."

A self-conscious hand ran through it. "Yeah." He didn't feel like elaborating about the Banner case.

Sal nodded. "I like it. Looks sexy. "

He scratched at his nape, embarrassed. "Sal..."

She laughed. "Still don't take compliments well, do you, doofus?"

Doggett tried to glare at her, but missed by a smile. "Say, you wanna drink, or somethin'?"

"Love a coffee."

Escaping into the kitchen, he waved a hand. "Well sit yourself down. Won't be a minute."

Looking left and right for his cordless phone, he thought maybe he could get a quick call to Skinner, giving him the heads-up on the cancelled evening. He felt a deep pang of regret at that, but squashed it down. The just couldn't risk it. Not with Sal here. Dialling with one hand, and pouring water into the machine with the other, he called through.

"You still take it with cream?"

"Yeah."

Her voice right behind him made him jump. Guiltily, he pressed 'cancel' and slid the phone away.

"Okay."

He pulled two mugs down and set them up, wondering how long it'd take Skinner to get here, and if he could possibly run interference before the other man said, or did anything incriminating.

"You're looking real good, Johnny," she said, rubbing her hand between his shoulder blades.

Leaning back into her touch, he tried to push all the panicky thoughts of Skinner away.

He smiled. "I'm doin' okay." His eyebrow cocked. "You're lookin' pretty good, yourself." It was true, she did. "New man, maybe?" he teased.

She answered with silence and a coy grin that told him all he needed to know.

"Could be. Maybe." She laughed. "I'm not saying. How 'bout you?"

The coffee machine burped as his stomach lurched.

"Whadd'ya mean?" He hoped he didn't sound too freaked out.

"Well, I don't mean 'Have you got a new man'..." Sally laughed and Doggett swallowed.

"I mean, any new women on the horizon?"

"Not so's you'd notice." There really wasn't much he could say other than that. Not without making her scream. And much as he used to like making her scream as a kid, there were limits.

The doorbell chimed and he saw her face fall.

"Oh, John. You should've said you were expectin' company!"

Doggett shook his head. "No, it's okay. It's just..."

Shit. Just what?

Just Skinner.

My boss.

My lover...

He cleared his throat. "Just a friend. He's brought supper"

"Oh John... I'm intruding."

"No. It's okay. There'll be plenty of food for three. He always brings way too much."

Moving towards the door, Doggett groaned inside. Shit! Now she knew that him comin' over was a regular thing. Just like a supper-date. Shit.

He laid his hand on the latch. Please understand what I'm gonna have to do, Walter...

He opened the front door with all the enthusiasm of a mortuary assistant.

Skinner's grin was straight out of the drawer labelled 'Evil Thoughts and Deeds', and Doggett swallowed anxiously.

"Hope you've got the oven on hot, my man. Cause this food is going to have to wait."

Doggett held up a finger to stop anything more incriminating from slipping out of that mouth, and quickly stepped back as Skinner moved into his personal space.

"Um. Hi," he said, lamely.

"Well, come on then," Skinner held out a hand. "Grab one of these so I can..." He leaned forward.

Oh shit.

Doggett snatched the carry-out bag before the other man could follow through with a kiss. He had the sneakiest feeling that tonight was supposed to be one of the 'let's-keep-the-food-warm-while-we-fuck' nights.

"Um, yeah. Walt..." He gestured through into the house. "I'd like to...|"

"Hi there." Sally was moving towards them, smiling, hand outstretched. Walter's hand automatically came up to take the proffered palm.

"I'm Sally."

"Hello," Skinner smiled in return, glancing at Doggett. "I'm pleased to meet you, Ma'am." He shook carefully. "Walter Skinner."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Sally laughed. "I forgot to say. I'm John's sister."

Skinner gave her a deeper smile. "Ah, yes. I can see the resemblance."

Two sets of Doggett-brows rose.

"Really?" Sally looked intrigued.

Skinner nodded. "You have the same..." He paused, his grin mischievous.

Sally squeezed his hand and leaned forward. "If you say 'ears', I shall be very cross."

Skinner laughed outright. "I was going to say, eyes. You both have the same eyes."

His hand was released. "That's okay then."

Between them. The other Doggett shuffled. This situation was making him wriggle, for some reason.

"You wanna..." he waved a hand. "Come in?"

Skinner gave him an amused look and Doggett hoped that the other man wasn't going to make any wise-cracks.

"Thanks." He led the two into the kitchen, trying to relax his very tense back.

Dropping his paper sack on the counter, Skinner shuffled his feet.

"Say, John. Mind if I..." He waved a hand upwards, his face screwed up. "Had to wait forever for the food."

Nodding understanding, Doggett reached into a bag. "Sure, go ahead."

He watched as Skinner retreated quickly to the stairs, then shifting his gaze, watched Sally watching Skinner's exit too, a little smile on her face.

What was that look for, he wondered? He was getting paranoid.

Sally perched on a stool and rested her elbows on the counter.

"So where d'you know Walter Skinner, then?" she asked.

Definitely paranoid. He dug into the other bag, refusing to look up into her eyes. "We both work at the Bureau," he said, deliberately not elaborating on the dynamics of their working relationship.

"Uh-huh." To his relief, she seemed satisfied with that.

Putting the little foil trays into the oven, he glanced up, unnerved by the silence. She still had that look on her face.

Doggett folded the kitchen cloth neatly, as the silence stretched on. Upstairs, the toilet flushed.

"What?" he asked, when he couldn't stand it any longer.

"What, what?"

"That 'look' on your face."

She pulled an innocent face. "What look?"

Doggett threw the cloth at her. "You know damn well, what look."

Laughing as she caught the cloth, she wiggled an eyebrow. "He's cute," she said, and threw the cloth back.

Shocked, Doggett caught a faceful of dish cloth. He pulled the terry towelling off his head, stunned to the bones.

"What??"

Sal laughed. "Cute."

Doggett pulled a face. "Skinner?"

"Gimme a break, John," she said, mis-interpreting his expression.

"But..." he began, but words refused to play, so his mouth just hung open.

Sally threw up her hands. "What?!"

"You think..." Again, words remained absent.

Sally rolled her eyes.. "Look. I might be your little sister, but I'm also a woman." She leaned forward. "And I'm not blind." She tapped a nail between her words, for emphasis. "He. Is. Cute."

Doggett opened his mouth again, wondering if he was going completely out of his mind, or if this was just God's idea of an insane joke.

"Sally..." He pulled another face.

Opposite, Sally shrieked and clapped her hands. "Why, Johnny Doggett! I do believe you're blushing!"

"Am not," he lied, automatically. He could hear Skinner coming down the stairs.

"Are too!" She pointed. "Ears an' all!"

He threw the cloth right back at her, this time with more force. "Shuddup!"

Sally pealed with laughter, catching the missile.

With perfect timing, Skinner walked back into the room, an amused expression on his face.

"Am I interrupting?"

Doggett grunted, unwilling to re-count their conversation.

"Not at all," Sally out the towel aside. "Just your average sibling squabble."

"Ah." Skinner sat at the end of the counter.

"Look, you guys obviously had plans for supper..."

And for something else, Doggett thought, not daring to look at Skinner.

"I hope you'll join us," Skinner spread his hands out. "There's more than enough."

Sal smiled. "So I gather. John said you always bring too much."

Skinner looked over to Doggett. "Oh?" His expression was a mixture of 'You've discussed me?' and 'How much have you told her?'

Doggett read both facial messages and squirmed. "I already asked Sal to eat with us," he muttered, fussing with the kitchen cloth again.

"And you will?" Skinner asked, turning back.

She inclined her head. "That'd be lovely. Thank you."

To Doggett's surprise, she smiled a smile that he didn't ever recall seeing on his sister's face. And deep down, an alarm bell rang.

*

Chapter 3.

During the evening, Doggett saw his little sister in a new light. Having left home when she was still a chid, there hadn't been many occasions when he had observed her in an adult, social setting.

Family gatherings didn't count as far as he was concerned, everyone was always tense and on their best behaviour.

Tonight was something different. This evening Sally Doggett showed her brother what kind of an adult she had become. And it was a revelation for him.

He wondered when it had happened that his baby sister had turned into a funny, engaging and thoroughly delightful woman, and how he had managed to miss the transformation from the sweet child and awkward teenager.

They ate, the conversation easy and light, Sally obviously relishing her role as the female representative. Doggett allowed her to poke gentle fun at him,. Skinner's amusement at his expense was a source of pleasure. Watching the other man helpless with laughter at some childhood tale was worth any vague humiliation.

Almost a perfect evening, despite the lack of sex.

And also for a slight nagging unease that tickled the back of his mind.

It was not only the first time he'd witnessed his sister in charming-mode, it was also the first time he'd witnessed her behaving like a sexually mature, adult woman. And one with a gleam in her eye, no less.

And that bothered him on more levels than he could justify. There was not only his naturally protective 'older brother' warning bell ringing loudly, he also had another mother of a siren going off inside him. One with a 'Territorial' label on it. Damn it! This was his man.

Pushing away her plate, Sally sighed. "That's it. I'm done." She shook her head. "That was wonderful, but I can't eat another bite."

Skinner glanced up from chasing rice around his own plate. "Glad you enjoyed," he said.

She nodded. "Love chinese." Pushing her plate a little bit nearer her brother, she tapped the edge.

"Hey, wanna finish this?"

Hesitating for perhaps a millisecond, Doggett shrugged and pulled the plate to him. "Sure."

He began to shovel chicken into his mouth.

"Dustbin," Skinner muttered, and Sally sniggered.

Pausing with a fork half way to his mouth, Doggett stared. "Pardon me?"

"We have a special name for him, back home," Sally told Skinner.

He wiped his mouth on his napkin and grinned. "Really?"

"Oh yeah."

"Do tell."

Doggett's fork tapped his plate. "Hello? I am here, y'know."

Ignoring him, Sally rested her chin on her hand, elbows on the counter and gazed at Skinner with altogether too much interest for Doggett's liking.

"Uh-huh. Mamma named him for a cute little thing in my favourite book. He used to read to me, y'know."

"Indeed?"

Doggett watched in concern as Skinner never took his eyes off Sally as he leaned forward toward her. He frowned. This was getting a little bit too friendly for his taste. Compounded, of course, by the fact he was being ignored.

He cleared his throat noisily. Sally continued to ignore him.

"Yep. He was quite sweet sometimes." She grinned. "But anyway. Mamma took to calling him..."

She threw Doggett a wicked glance and whispered conspiratorially to Skinner. "Piglet..."

Doggett gave her a glare.

Skinner smiled. "Ah. I see." He looked at Doggett and raised an eyebrow. "That explains the socks."

Sal laughed out loud. "You know about them?!"

"Well, I did wonder why a grown man possessed bright yellow piggy socks."

Sally clutched her chest in mock horror. "He didn't wear them to work?"

Doggett's felt his face twitch. Shit. There was no way he'd ever wear something like that to the Bureau. And she knew that.

The question was written all over her face: how did Skinner know about the socks?

Doggett swallowed a last mouth full of dry egg fried rice.

Skinner shook his head. "No. It was an undercover case. Plain clothes."

Sal's eyebrow lifted. "What kind of undercover case requires yellow Piglet socks?"

The wall clock scrunched its way around the silence in the kitchen. Doggett cleared his throat for the thousandth time that night. Skinner said nothing, just smiled a knowing smile.

"Well, it wasn't exactly required, as such..." he began, shrugging his shoulders. "I just couldn't find any others."

There was a derisive noise from across the table. "Oh, please! This from the man whose drawers are colour-coordinated and practically alphabetized? Gimme a break!"

"Yeah, well..." Doggett grabbed the plates. "Go figure." He turned away and dumped the plates in the sink, twisting the tap, viciously.

Behind him, he heard the sound of a stool being pushed back. He turned around as Sal got up.

"Well, Mr. Tidy's underwear aside. If you gentlemen will excuse me, I'm beat, and I gotta be up at some terrible hour. So... I'm gonna love you and leave you."

Walking over, she pecked a quick kiss on Doggett's cheek, then walking past Skinner, laid her hand on his arm.

"Thanks for the meal, Walter." She moved away, oblivious to the expressions on both men's faces, and as a thought occurred, turned back. "I'll see you another time, perhaps?"

Skinner nodded. "I'd like that," he said.

"Cool. See you later, then." She grinned over her shoulder. "Night, guys!"

Doggett heard her light step run up the stairs. When the sound of the bedroom door reached them, he thumped his hand down on the counter. He tipped his chin at Skinner.

"What're you doin' here?" he demanded.

Skinner just looked at him. "I was invited, remember?"

"That's not what I mean." Doggett stepped toward him. "What're you doin' here?"

"Meaning?"

"Meanin' all this..." He flapped his hand. "All this stuff."

Skin just looked amused, and that pissed Doggett off some more. "Stuff?"

"You know." He scowled and leaned forward. "All this eye-contact and smilin' stuff."

Laughing, Skinner leaned back in his chair, making Doggett's ill-temper crank up a couple more notches.

"You think this is funny?" he growled.

"No, I think you're funny."

"Fuck you, Skinner."

The other man just tilted his head suggestively and Doggett's frown-lines dug into his face. Skinner sighed. "Well, excuse me. I thought I was being sociable."

"There's sociable and there's ..." He pulled a face.

"What?"

Working a couple of words around in his mouth, finally choosing one and spitting it out,

"Flirtin'!"

Skinner's eyes flew open. "You think I"m flirting with your sister?"

"Yeah."

Skinner shook his head, smiling. "You're a revelation, John Doggett. You really are."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Grinning, Skinner leaned forward again. "You're jealous, aren't you?"

"Am not!"

"No?"

"No!" Doggett scowled and waved his hand. "An' all that touchy-stuff isn't necessary!"

"What?"

"That..." He put his hand on his own arm, where Sal had touched Skinner's.

Skinner rolled his eyes. "Jesus, Doggett. She touched me!"

"Yeah. But you..."

"What? Enjoyed it? Encouraged it?" Skinner frowned. "What's your problem, John? I'm just behaving like a normal human being." He looked Doggett up and down. "You on the other hand, are behaving like a prime asshole."

All the belligerence drained out of Doggett, leaving an embarrassed void. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Shit," he said, softly.

"Yeah. You are."

Doggett looked up. "Sorry."

Skinner shrugged. "S'okay." He grinned. "I'm kinda touched. Who'd have thought? You. Jealous."

Doggett bristled. "I'm not..." He saw the amusement on Skinner's face and the humour of the situation finally tapped him on the shoulder. "Okay, okay." He held up his hand. "Busted."

Putting a warm hand on Doggett's neck, Skinner pulled him dangerously close, and a surge of lust stabbed Doggett in the belly.

"Skinner..." he warned.

The deep voice whispered erotically. "What?"

Doggett tried to nod upstairs, but his head was held too tightly. Skinner grinned and moved a shade closer.

"Sal..." Doggett croaked out.

"What about her?" He could feel the other man's breath on his skin.

"She's..."

Creeping unbelievably closer, Skinner breathed a chuckle. "Hot. Yeah, I know."

Doggett's mouth and eyes widened. Did he say...?

And then Skinner was moving in, brushing aside rational thought as a warm tongue slipped between his open lips to stroke inside.

The kiss was unhurried and sweet. Spit, spicy with the promise of carnality.

Doggett's brain fogged up with lustful thoughts, and his cock leaped inside his boxers. For long moments, he was only aware of Skinner's hands holding his face, Skinner's mouth suckling his tongue and his cock throbbing in his underwear. He angled his head to go deeper, relishing the sudden intimacy.

It was a thud from the spare room upstairs that drew attention to his raging erection, and the unsuitability of the situation.

Like he needed was his sister to walk in on this. To catch him with a raging boner and his tongue down another guy's throat.

The mental picture of her expression made his dick wilt, and he put his hand to Skinner's chest to push him away.

"Stop," he breathed, resting their foreheads together.

"Okay."

Skinner's hand fell away, and Doggett missed the contact immediately. He sighed. Shit.

"Sorry," he said.

Skinner shrugged, moving away. "No problem."

Taking in the other man's grin and the memory of a few minutes ago, Doggett frowned. He cocked his head on one side.

"Did I hear you say...?"

Skinner scratched his ear. "What?"

"About Sal?"

The other man shrugged. "Yeah."

Taking a moment to digest this, Doggett picked up a couple of stray grains from the counter, trying to get the concept straight in his mind. His lover thought his sister was..." He winced.

He looked up at Skinner. "So you think Sal is..." He tried not to let his feelings about this show on his face. "Hot?"

Skinner nodded, calmly. "So?"

So??

What was wrong with this picture? Talk about colouring outside of the lines! He opened his mouth to speak, but all his words were busy holding a vote on how fuckin' weird the whole idea was.

Taking pity on him, Skinner leaned his elbows on the work surface. "What's wrong, with that, John?"

A pair of eyebrows shot up.

"What's wrong?"

"Uh-huh. You look like you're struggling with the idea."

"You think?"

"You're surprised?"

Doggett spluttered. "Surprised? Try somewhere nearer fuckin' shell-shocked."

"Why? She's a good-looking woman."

Doggett screwed up his face. "She's my sister, for God's sake!"

Skinner stared at him. "But she's not mine."

Again, words disappeared to discuss this revelation. Doggett stood staring at Skinner until they deigned to return.

"But..."

"But nothing. She's funny, she's attractive." He shrugged. "I like her."

Doggett stared, unsure why he felt bothered and betrayed, and not proud and pleased.

He swallowed.

"You gonna..." Doggett made a useless gesture.

Skinner shrugged, non-committally.

Doggett felt suddenly sick. He stared at Skinner's face. Shit. He'd said he would be there as long as he wanted him, but he never said he would be exclusive.

Doggett had just assumed.

They'd never made any promises about 'til death us do part' or anything. And he knew Skinner had had a long marriage, so it stood to reason he enjoyed women. So why did he feel like he'd been kicked in the balls, all of a sudden?

The face in front of him smiled. "Of course, there is another reason why I rather like her."

"Oh?" It was real hard, trying not to sulk and pout like a prissy bitch.

Skinner sighed and put a hand over Doggett's.

"Yeah, stupid. She reminds me of you."

Hope flared.

"You mean..."

The hand squeezed his. "I'm not gonna jump your sister, John. Trust me. One Doggett in my life is more than enough to handle."

"Yeah?" God, he hoped that didn't sound whiny.

"Cross my heart, Piglet."

Doggett grinned, giddy with relief. "Fuck you, Skinner."

Grinning, Skinner let him go. "It's a deal. But let me guess, not tonight?"

Doggett laughed. "You got that, straight."

*

Chapter 4.

After Skinner left, Doggett went upstairs and gave the spare room door a tentative knock. "Can I come in?

"Sure. I'm decent."

Doggett stuck his nose around the door. "Y'think?" he teased. Something pink sailed across the room at him. Snatching the missile out of the air, Doggett looked at his handful of frilly panties in horror.

"God, Sal!" He threw them to the floor.

"Oh, get over yourself. They're clean."

"But they're yours." He did a mock shudder.

"Thanks."

Doggett sat down on the edge of the bed, pushing the offending panties away with his toe.

Sal flopped down next to him, in flannel pj's.

"Sexy night-wear," Doggett said, looking her up and down.

She wiggled her eyebrows and lowered her voice. "I love the feel of flannel in the morning..."

Doggett laughed. They sat for a moment, while he wondered how to say what was on his mind.

She beat him to it. "What's up, Piglet?"

He gave her a stern look. "Hey! Where's the respect?"

Sal laughed and linked her arm through his. "You're my big brother...I love you. But you don't get respect as well."

He smiled. "That's okay, then." He nodded at the room, avoiding the issue on his mind. "You okay in here?"

"Sure. It's neat." Laughing, she nudged him. "But then, being your house, it's gonna be antiseptic, huh? Have to see what I can do about that, won't I?" She looked around the room. "Let me think...Oh, I don't know... A few pantyhose hanging from the picture rails... Girl-things on your bathroom surfaces..."

"Don't you dare!"

She grinned at his horrified expression. "Relax, soldier. I don't want you having a coronary over my personals." She patted his arm. "So. What's on that mind of yours?"

"What makes you think there's somethin' on my mind?"

"John... I know that look."

"Uh-huh?"

She brought a finger up to rub the creased forehead. "It's the Lecture-Look."

Smiling, he leaned his head away from her finger. "So you think you 've done something to deserve a lecture?"

"Well," she said, settling her head on his shoulder. "Let's think. I'm way old enough to drink, vote, drive and get married... So I would imagine, that without any of those things for you to lecture about, I'd say it's because I flirted with your friend." She lifted her head and looked.

"That about right?"

Spot on, Doggett thought. He sighed. "Sorta."

"Well, go on then."

"Go on, what?"

"Give it to me. The Lecture."

"You think that's what I'm gonna do?"

"Probably. Go ahead."

He just sat there, wondering how he was going to actually tackle the subject of Skinner.

"I'm too beat to play twenty questions, John. Spit it out, kiss me goodnight, and piss off."

He gave her a stern look. "Since when do you get to cuss at me?"

"Since I got past the age of consent to do anything else I damned well pleased in this glorious world."

She pulled her hand out of his and counted off on her fingers. "So let me help you out here.. One: he's seriously older than me. Well, actually, John, I kinda think that's sexy."

Doggett winced.

"Two: he's bald. So what? So's Sean Connery, and I wouldn't kick him outta my bed."

This was definitely classed as over-sharing, Doggett thought, suddenly very sorry he'd started this whole chat-thing.

"And Three: he's your friend." She looked up at Doggett. "There's not a lot I can do about that, is there? But as he is your friend, that kinda ensures that he's not some blood-sucking serial-killer, doesn't it?" She tilted her head. "Does that about cover everything?"

No. It doesn't, Doggett told her, in his head. You forgot to mention that he sleeps in mt bed, too. But he just grunted.

"Look, Sal. It's just..."

"He's not good enough for me?"

"No. He's a good man." Biting his tongue against the torrent of praise he felt he could sing for Walter Skinner, Doggett made do with picking up her hand in his. "I just don't want you to get hurt."

"That's sweet, John. But I've dated enough bastards to recognise when a guy's not."

He sighed. Shit. This was tough.

"I don't think you're..."

"His type?"

He couldn't help the smile that crept out. "No, actually. I think you'd be any man's type." That got him a smile in return. "What I'm tryin' to say..."

"And making a piss-poor job of it."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Thank you. What I"m trying to say, is that I don't think he's available."

Shit, he could almost hear, the howls of laughter Skinner was gonna make when he told him this sorry tale.

"Oh."

He stroked her hand gently, hating himself for making her face drop like that.

"He's married?"

"No... Not any more."

The look of hope on her face damn near broke his heart. "He's... involved with someone."

"I see."

No, she didn't, but that was okay.

A frown crossed her face. "If he's got someone, then what's he doin' spending Friday night with you ?"

Shit, shit shit.

"Like I'm his social secretary?" Doggett hoped the off-hand remark masked the sheer terror he was feeling at how close she was getting.

Shrugging, Sally nodded. "I suppose." She huffed out a breath. "Oh well. Just my luck."

"I'm sorry, sweetheart."

A quiet moment passed, and Doggett wondered what she was thinking. Thinking that she'd never know how sorry he really was.

She stifled a yawn. "God, I'm bushed."

"Okay. I get the hint. I'll leave you in peace." He stood up. "What time you gettin' up tomorrow?"

"Bout 6." She laughed at his face. "Don't get up and see me off, please. I don't do mornings."

He wiped his brow. "Phew! There's a relief."

Standing, he pulled her up after him, and kissed her forehead. "Sleep well, lil' bitty-one."

"Bitty-one my ass," Sally snorted and gave him a hug.

*

Chapter 5.

The next day, by the time he had eaten two meals, washed his truck, shopped for groceries and tided his already tidy house, Doggett was about ready to climb the walls.

A Saturday without Skinner had stretched out in front of him like and open wound, and as much as he tried to occupy himself with mundane shit, it only emphasized his sense of abandonment.

Stupid.

Even with Sally safely away at the seminar all day, they had decided to take a raincheck, just in case. He didn't think either of them could be trusted within touching distance of each other. And he wanted to be around in case Sal finished early.

Desperate for distraction, Doggett cleaned every pair of shoes and boots he owned, even the old battered walking ones.

Whatever had he done in the existence before his weekends with Skinner?

Well, that more or less answered that question for him. He had existed.

He sorted his trash, shoving papers into the re-cycling bin with a grunt. Jesus! He was being fuckin' melodramatic.

He sighed. Yeah. But true.

He tried to read the new Stephen King, but couldn't concentrate on more than a paragraph at a time. The book lay on the coffee table, abandoned.

He went for a run, mid-afternoon, to try and burn off his nervous energy, and ended up nearly squashed under a city bus, through pitiful lack of attention crossing the street.

Finally, he cooked a huge lasagna from scratch, effectively killing a couple of hours. Smiling, he wondered what Skinner would make of his domestic streak.

Shit, the man had been married. He'd know how to cook.

Finally, at 6.10pm, the phone rang, slicing open his morose mood.

Thank God, human contact. He picked up.

"Yeah, John Doggett."

"Hi, sweetie!" Sally sounded in great spirits. The seminar must have been better than he'd imagined.

"Hi, Sal. What time you comin' home for supper?"

"That's what I'm callin' about. I met an old friend at the convention centre, John. D'you remember Maddi Smith?"

Doggett frowned. No, he couldn't recall anyone with that name. "Uh-uh. Can't say I do."

"Dark-haired woman... Taught English at the High School where I did my training?" She clucked impatiently. "Went to live in New York, in '97?"

An image of raven hair, green eyes and a laugh to raise the dead sprang to mind.

"This the one that showed you all those wacky internet sites? The porn stuff?"

Sally's laughter echoed down the line."Oh you old fart, John! It wasn't porn... It's called 'alternative literature'."

"Porn," he muttered.

"Yeah, whatever. Anyway, yeah, guilty as charged. She's here, been sitting next to her all day, having fun."

"Giggling in the back row, again?"

"Oh, you'd better believe it! But the point is... We want to go out and do the town, tonight. What d'you say?"

"I say you're old enough. Go for it."

"No... silly. We want you to come with us."

Silence.

"What?"

"Safety in numbers, John. We want you to come, too..."

"Me?"

The idea of doing the town with his little sister and her maniac friend didn't hold a great appeal.

"Sure! You're not that uncool, surprisingly..."

His eyebrows rose. "Thanks."

"Maddi remembers you." There was a giggle. "She told me she actually quite fancied you back then."

Oh God.

"She's real keen to hook up with you again."

Oh God!

"Look, Sal. I dunno about this."

"John..." She whined. "Pleeeeese!"

"Sal...It's not really my thing." Actually, from what he remembered, Maddi Smith wasn't all that hard on the eyes. And the idea that she'd... No. Behave, Doggett.

"Whadd'ya mean 'not your thing'? She's a great-lookin' woman, John. And from what I remember, your dance-card isn't exactly crammed."

"Ouch."

"I didn't mean that unkindly, Johnny. But you could do worse than a Saturday night out with two gorgeous women."

He smiled. His sister was the queen of persuasion, when she wanted.

"So what d'you say? Yeah, huh?"

"You irritating brat."

"Is that a yes?"

He heaved a long-suffering sigh. "I suppose so."

"Okay!!" He pulled the phone away from his ear at the squeal.

"Where you wanna meet?"

"Oh, I'm gonna come back to your place to change, first. Can't go clubbin' looking like a school-marm."

"You are a school-marm."

"Not tonight, baby."

Doggett had the sneaking feeling that he was going to live to regret this decision.

"Okay. See you in a while."

"Kay." There was a pause. "And John?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you call Walter and ask if he'd like to join us. If he's free, of course."

Ah.

There it was.

He tried not to let the amusement show in his voice. "You wanna go clubbin' with Walter?"

The silence was very telling.

"You think he would?" She sounded very young when she said that. Very young and not a little insecure.

"Sally..." he warned.

"I know, I know. I'm not gonna fall in love or anythin' stupid. I just..." She sighed. "Just wanna have a nice evening with a great-lookin guy. Y'know?"

You and me both, baby, he thought.

"So I don't qualify as a great-lookin' guy?" he teased.

"Ewww! You're my brother! No way I'm gonna slip you the tongue!"

Doggett pulled the phone from his ear. Shit! His sister wanted to...

He pulled the phone back, aghast. "Sarah Frances Doggett!"

"Yeah? What?" All innocent.

"You..." Those damned elusive words again.

"Over 18, John. Gotta remember that."

God. Sometimes it was real hard to keep that in mind. Especially when you'd changed someones' diapers. He sighed, wondering if this was going to be another decision he was going to regret.

"I'll call him and ask. Okay?"

"Great! Thanks, bro."

"Yeah. Whatever." He rubbed his eyes. God, he felt about a hundred and three.

"Love you, Big Dawg."

"Right back atcha, babe."

He hung up the phone, very slowly.

Clubbing.

Him, Skinner and two women.

Shit.

Did it get any weirder?

*

Chapter 5.

Well, yeah, apparently it did.

To his surprise, Skinner had been enthusiastic about the whole thing, even without Doggett informing him of his sister's evil plans for him.

He and Sal had polished off a healthy amount of his lasagna, its very existence shocking the hell out of her.

Then she'd made him change clothes, and they caught a cab to town.

And standing outside on the sidewalk, under the green sodium lights of the Jester, their faces drenched in bile-green hues, Doggett wondered exactly how much weirder the evening was actually going to get.

"You sure you got the right place?" he asked.

"Well if I didn't, Walter's gonna be disappointed," Sally laughed.

Wouldn't be the only one, Doggett thought, looking carefully at her face.

"Hiya babes!!" They both turned round at the shriek.

Maddi Smith stood, arms outstretched, dressed head to foot in black, obviously delighted to be here, to see them, and the world in general.

"Yo! Mad!!" Sally yelled back.

Well, you got the name right, Doggett thought, watching the two women do a little victory-dance on the sidewalk. He stood patiently while they did the girl-meeting thing, hands stuffed deep in his jeans.

He hoped this wasn't going to be excruciating.

"John!" He lifted his head. The creature in black was addressing him. No, that wasn't fair. She just sounded crazy, she looked... His eyes travelled up and down her body. Well, pretty good actually .

She swept down on him, arm-in-arm with Sally.

"Well, hi there, gorgeous!" she crowed.

"Um... Hi, Madeline."

"Oh, hell, petal. Call me Maddi..." She leaned in. "Makes me sound about 90, otherwise."

Shit, she couldn't even be his age.

"Maddi," he nodded, holding his hand out to shake.

Taking his hand with gusto, Maddi squeezed it surprisingly firmly. And then her thumb ran sensuously up the back, making his eyes widen in surprise.

Seemed Maddi Smith wasn't a shy girl at all.

He stood calmly, while she looked him up and down. "Not bad, Johnny Doggett," she said, eventually. "You kept real well, honey."

He tried not to grin or blush at her expression. No, not a shy girl at all.

Pulling him towards her, she let go and linked her arm under his. "Yep. You'll do very nicely, thank you."

Leaning around her friend, Sal winked at him, and pulled a lecherous face. He rolled his eyes.

"Where's you other friend, Sally, babe?" Maddi asked, as they walked in a line towards the entrance..

"Said he'll meet us inside," Doggett wondered if it would be too churlish to extradite himself from Maddi's grip. He gave her hand an experimental tug. Rock solid.

"Well, okay then." Maddi pulled them both forward, giving them no option but to follow.

"Let's PARTY!"

*

Wandering through the smoky club, Doggett couldn't help but recall the night of the Eros case.

Night of the nightmare, more like, although it was instrumental in bringing him within the reach of a certain Assistant Director, so he couldn't complain too much.

And this time, his ass wasn't being grabbed to hell.

So, it wasn't that bad after all.

Actually, he'd felt a quick squeeze on his butt when they'd stood in the queue, and had suspected that it'd been Maddi, but she'd been staring innocently at the person in front of them, so he couldn't prove a thing.

But if it had been her, he wouldn't have been the least bit surprised.

Bringing the drinks over to the corner, he balanced the girls' glassed on mats, and shoved two Bud's to the back of the table.

"Here y'go," he yelled.

The two women blew him kisses, making him smile despite the racket that passed for music.

He must be getting old. He didn't like the noise in either gay or straight clubs. He leaned against the pillar and watched the women laughing over their drinks. Even without being able to hear properly, he knew they were making dirty comments about the men in the club. Standing with them while they waited to get into the club, his mind had been broadened to snapping-point with the torrent of smut and innuendo that had issued forth. The fact that one half of the duo was his little sister hadn't done a great deal for his peace of mind. He'd tried desperately to block out some of the riper comments. God, their mother would drop a kidney if she could hear the things that had come out of Sarah Doggett's mouth.

But, while the colour of their language might leave a little to be desired, he had to admit, they both looked great. Sal had swept her hair up, and with the extra bit of make-up, and the tight tee-shirt, was nothing short of stunning. Doggett shook his head, wondering where the little tomboy that helped him build that tree-house had gone.

And Maddi... Well, she was another revelation. There was no doubt she was very funny, but she possessed a kind of smouldering sexuality that intrigued him. She was different from most other women he'd met, in so much as she was direct to the point of embarrassing about anything that crossed her mind, be it political commentary, or the shape of a man's body.

He smiled to himself. Took a bit of getting used to, but once the initial shock of the new faded, she was kinda good company. And she certainly brought out a new side to his sister. Or maybe it was a side she'd always had, but never allowed him to see. Who knew?

Sally suddenly pointed across the room, and he turned to look.

Moving through the crowd like a tank in faded denim, Skinner homed in on them.

Shit, he looked good, Doggett thought, watching the big man move. He swallowed, hoping he could get through the night without betraying himself.

Skinner nodded at him, and turned to the women. He winked at Sal, and held out his hand to Maddi. The woman took it with an amused expression, that melted into a delighted laugh as Skinner bent his head and kissed her knuckles.

"Walter Skinner, ma'am," he growled in a deep voice that sent all sorts of signals to Doggett's groin.

"Why! A gentleman!" Maddi cried, her obvious delight making Doggett feel a bit of a heel for not thinking to do the same thing. "You lucky girl, Sal."

Sally grinned a sort of cat/canary grin.

"Ladies," Skinner said gravely. "You both look outstanding."

"Flatterer," Maddi told him, retrieving her hand.

"Oh, Walt's a charmer, alright," Doggett said, pushing himself off the pillar. "Half the Bureau's in lust with him."

He didn't say which half, which in itself gave rise to a Skinner-smile.

"Jealous," he told Doggett, who snorted and laughed.

"Okay?" Skinner asked him. And he could have meant the loud music, the heat or even the state of the latest football score, but they both knew different.

Doggett shrugged. Okay. Just about.

"You look good, Walt," Sally told him, moving to stand closer.

Doggett clamped down on a grin. Didn't need to be a mind-reader to see what was going through her mind.

Skinner inclined his head. "Thank you."

"You a cop, too?" Maddi asked, waving a pink nail up and down his body.

"FBI, same as John." Skinner told her, reaching for his beer.

"Ooh! Fancy!" She turned to give Doggett an appraising look. "Sal didn't tell me you'd quit the force."

"Just changed teams," Doggett told her, and then had to bite the inside of his cheek real hard at the look on Skinner's face.

He grabbed his bottle and swallowed quickly. This was going to be a long fuckin' night.

*

Two rounds of drinks later, it was obvious to Doggett that Skinner was revelling in the attentions of two attractive females. The older man was shit-hot at this flirting game. You'd think he got chatted up every day, the way he handled the ribald comments and innuendoes.

The way the conversation slipped in and out of the gutter amazed him. What had happened that the gentler sex suddenly became the aggressors?

Maybe when he was busy fucking up his marriage.

Doggett wasn't entirely sure he could have parried some of Maddi's more of-colour remarks without blushing. The woman was sharp as broken glass and twice as subtle. Maybe those couple of years Skinner had on him made the difference.

Hearing the music change to something from the Bon Jovi stable, Sally put her glass down and reached for Skinner's hand. "Dance?" she suggested, obviously tired of waiting to be asked.

"I'd be delighted," Skinner told her.

Nodding to the others, he allowed himself to be led out onto the floor. Doggett felt a pang of something sharp that it wasn't him leading Skinner out there. He took a swallow of beer to hide it.

"Well?" Maddi moved to stand in front of him. He raised his eyebrows.

"Well?" he echoed.

"We gonna do it, sugar?" she asked. Her question panicked him for a second, then belatedly realizing she meant dance, he put his bottle down and took her hand.

"Sure. Be my pleasure, ma'am," he told her, reckoning that Skinner wasn't the only one that could turn on the charm. And a dance with this woman wouldn't kill him.

Squeezing their way between the bodies, Doggett led Maddi to the centre of the room. From here he could see pretty much everything, including Skinner.

Concentrating on catching the beat, he frowned and got his dancing head on. It had been a long while since he did this properly... It felt good to let himself go at it again.

Dancing dangerously close to him, Maddi closed her eyes and went for it in a big way. He watched appreciatively as she moved her hips in hard circles.

Not bad. No bad at all. She had curves in all the right places, and a nice pair of... Never mind the politically incorrect thoughts, he was just pleased to discover he could still appreciate a woman's form, after what he'd found himself doing the last few weeks. Maybe sexuality was just a question of situation and opportunity.

Now there was a thought.

He glanced over to Skinner, letting his eyes rest on the delicious curve of his ass for a moment.

Opportunity be damned. He just wished the two of them could dance together.

He shoved that thought away and got on with enjoying the music and the woman he was with.

Sensing Maddi's eyes on his body, he did a little thrusting thing with his hips that had gotten him laid once upon a time at a College dance and grinned, relishing the look that crossed her face.

Oh yeah, he still had it.

He did pushed his groin forward again a couple of times just for the hell of it, admitting that he wasn't above indulging in a little of this flirting business.

As the music slipped down in tempo, breathing hard, he slowed. Maddi moved closer, a questioning look on her face.

Why not? He thought, and put his hands on her hips.

"This okay?" he asked, leaning in.

"Hhhmmm. Sure," she said, and slipped her hands up his arms, pulling him closer.

What was he thinking? Of course it would be alright, 'cause it felt pretty okay to him, too.

He ran his hands up her back and bent his head to rest his chin on her shoulder.

She smelled nice, he thought as they swayed in time to the music. She felt nice, too. Soft and feminine.

He surprised himself, sometimes. Why the hell wouldn't she feel nice?

Her hands were playing with the hair at the back of his neck. It was damp with perspiration, and her fingers were warm.

Pushing her body against his, Doggett could feel the interesting rise of her breasts pressed against his chest, and by running his hands over her back, he knew that she wasn't wearing a bra.

To his distinct pleasure, he realized it felt good.

Better than he had thought, better than he supposed it should.

Looking over to where Skinner had his hands full with Sally, Doggett grinned. Skinner seemed to be having his own problems. His sister seemed to be trying to coax him into a spot of dirty dancing, and Walt seemed to be trying to coax her out of it.

Doggett wondered if the big man would be adverse to doing a number or two with him, in the lounge back home.

He felt Maddi's head coming up. "Something interesting?" she asked.

Doggett nodded across the floor.

Maddi looked over and laughed. "Oh, man, has she got it bad for that man. Not that I blame her, at all." He looked at her in surprise.

"What?" she said, innocently.

He shrugged. "Nothin'."

"We jealous?" she teased.

Doggett smiled. "Would you be disappointed if I said no?"

She reached up a touch and placed a gentle kiss on his surprised mouth. "Very, John Doggett."

His eyebrow rose. Her lips were very soft. "Yeah?"

Maddi grinned at him. A kind of grin he'd seen on Skinner's face once or twice.

Before he could comment, the music changed tempo and a rousing rock and roll number crashed out.

Sally ran across to them and grabbed Maddi's hand. "I love this one!" she yelled. "Walter won't jive with me... C'mon, Mad!"

With clasped hands, the two women moved back, bopping in time to the music. They both grinned at their abandoned partners.

"Yeah!" Sally shouted, twirling back and forth.

"C'mon! You guys! Go for it!" Maddi shouted.

"Oh yeah! Sally shimmied and did the twist, hands above her head.

Doggett stood next to Skinner, staring at the whirling women, hands shoved in his pockets.

"You can do it, Johnny!" Sally flapped her hand at them. "Dance with Walter!"

The two women howled with laughter.

Shit.

They had no idea. He glanced at Skinner's face, then looked back at the women, still waving madly at the two of them, encouraging.

No. No way.

Turning, Doggett caught Skinner's eye and watched him shake his head, sadly. Not here, not now.

Nodding agreement, Doggett sighed. He wasn't really pissed at them, they were just having a bit of fun. They didn't realize that he didn't know when there would ever be another time that he would be able to hold Skinner in his arms on a crowded dance floor and dance.

That was the pisser.

He walked away towards the table, leaving the others to it.

Sitting nursing his now-warm beer, he tried not to get too morose. Shit, he'd been having a good time up 'til then. He remembered the press of a good pair of breasts. Yeah... A real nice time.

A hand fell on his arm, and he looked up in surprise, half expecting Skinner to be standing there, offering to dance with him. There was an ice-cold second when he was certain he'd have said 'yes' and hang the consequences.

"Hey, John, sweetie..." Sally pulled gently on his arm, slightly out of breath.. "Don't be mad."

He looked at her.

"We were just having a bit of fun."

"I know," he said, moving his mouth until he hoped it looked like he was smiling back.

"You're not sulkin'?"

He shook his head.

"Good. Because you haven't danced with me, yet." She giggled, then hiccupped, vodka and lemonade obviously working their magic.

"Uh-uh," he told her, swigging the last of his Bud.

"Oh, go on!"

"Nope."

"Please!"

"I'm done dancin' for tonight."

"John..."

He shook his head.

"Pleeeeaase!" She leaned down and draped an arm around his shoulders.

Squashing a grin, he shook his head again. He was gonna lose this one, he knew it and she knew it. It was just a matter of how long it took.

"Be your best friend," she whined, rubbing her hand on his shoulder..

"Already got one."

"I'll scream..."

"So scream."

"Bastard," she said, laughing.

He turned to stare. "What'd you call me?"

She shrugged, grinning. "Nuthin'."

"Didn't sound like 'nuthin'."

"Don't tell me you're goin' deaf, with these!" She flicked his ear.

"Hey!"

"Dance with me, Johnny!"

"Say please."

"Please."

"Kiss?"

She kissed him, wet and noisy on his cheek. "Now, huh?"

He sighed. He'd lost, again.

"You quite sure you wanna be seen dancin' with your brother?"

She grinned at him. "No-one 'cept those two know.." She waved behind at Skinner and Maddi, now busy with their own private dance. "Everyone else will just think I scored with another great-lookin' guy."

He grinned, despite his earlier mood. "Flatterer," he said, giving in and standing up. She pulled him out to the floor again, and shaking his head, he pulled her into his arms.

"Satisfied?" he asked.

"Yep," she told him, with the smug air of a little sister that got her own way, yet again.

Such was the lot of the big brother he thought, as she wrapped her arms around his waist.

They swayed along without speaking, sappy love-songs in their ears, Sally resting her head on his shoulder.

This was the first time he'd danced with his sister, except for the time at Aunt Rita's wedding, when she'd had to stand on his dress-shoes for the waltz. She didn't need a step-up any more, he thought, smiling. And she could dance pretty good, too.

He looked over to where Maddi was holding Skinner. As he watched, a pair pink-tipped hands slithered their way down over Skinner's ass.

Shit. He looked away, trying to ignore what was going on.

It was not his business. He and Skinner weren't married, for cryin' out loud, and even if they were, one little dance didn't make any difference.

He snatched another glance, cursing himself as the image of the hands squeezing Walter's butt-cheeks roared into his head. Maddi was whispering into Skinner's ears, and by the look of it, with Skinner's total approval.

He sighed.

"Wassup?" Sally asked, pulling away a little.

"Nothin'," he replied, pissed at himself for being so transparent.

Sally looked behind her. "Oh." She turned back and smiled. "Don't mind Maddi, she's just a touchy-feely kinda person. She doesn't mean anything by that."

Doggett gave her a strangled look. Oh shit...

"What d'you mean?"

Sal jerked her head back. "That... Walter's ass. She likes you, John. I'm sure she's just bein' friendly."

Doggett felt weak with relief. She thought he was competing for Maddi, and not...

"S'okay, Sal. I'm not gonna go all Neanderthal over a little ass-grabbin'."

"Glad to hear it." She punched his chest lightly. "Don't wanna see you an' Walter fallin' out over Maddi."

"No, squirt, we won't." He bent his head to her shoulder and held on tight, hiding his grin.

"A little ass-squeezing between friends is nothing." She giggled again, burying her nose in his sweater and to emphasize her point she reached behind him and gave his butt a healthy goose.

"Hey!" Too shocked to say anything else, he just gave her a stern glare, which was wasted, in the condition she was in.

"Nope. Not as good," she said, sadly.

He tried to push her away so he could look at her. "What d'you mean?"

She hiccupped and giggled again. "I mean... I'm sorry, an' all... But I disagree with Maddi. Walter's got a much better ass than you, Johnny."

Tell me about it, he thought.

"You didn't... Did you?" he said, mildly disturbed by the thought of his sister feeling up Skinner.

She laughed. "Oh yeah, I did!"

Doggett groaned and pulled her to him again, as giggles engulfed her. God, save them from horny women.

*

Chapter 6.

Please... This just had to be the last dance, Doggett prayed, his feet howling in his boots. He knew he should have worn another pair, but Sally had taken one look, and demanded he wore those, because she said they went so well with his black jeans. Never mind the fact that they killed him after a coupla hours. She said he simply had to put them on.

Women had no idea, sometimes, he thought.

But apart from being hot, sweaty tired, with feet to cry over, the evening had turned out kinda okay, in a funny sort of way.

He had spent the latter part of the evening, dancing with Maddi, and enjoying it more as the night wore on and his alcohol consumption increased, along with the sexual tension.

Since that first small kiss had been accepted, Maddi had taken his lack of protest as the green flag, and things had progressed to several long, wet exchanges of saliva.

The first of which had set his heart racing, not with passion, but panic. He had sought out Skinner's eyes across the dance-floor, wondering how badly the other man was going to take the exchange, only to find him cocking a finger in his direction, laughing over Sally's shoulder.

Frowning, Doggett had tried to enquire with the silent language of expression, if Skinner was really okay with it, but instead of receiving a nod or a shake of his head, he'd been aghast to see Skinner take his sister's face in his big hands and kiss her, the way Doggett had been kissed.

Shit.

That was just too much.

He'd looked away.

And then looked back to see if it had stopped.

It hadn't.

He looked away, not in any way feeling the slightest desire to see his sister's mouth open under Skinner's.

He'd looked down at Maddi, and when she kissed him again, he exacted a revenge of sorts by going at the embrace with renewed enthusiasm.

And now, for the last hour, Maddi had been doing her best to grind herself into him, in ways that were evoking all sorts of interesting reactions from his body. The idea that she was getting him hard didn't seem to be putting her off in the least.

And that was both cause for concern and celebration. He just wasn't sure which it was.

"How does it feel?" she asked, sounding like a Dylan song.

Doggett looked at her, not pretending to misunderstand what she meant. He pushed his hips back against the pressure she was exerting.

"Feels good to me," he growled.

Was he going mad, he thought? They were dangerously near to crossing the line of 'not just flirting' any more.

"Good," she replied, breathing into his neck and biting the skin.

"Shit!" he took a shaky breath, and felt her laugh against him.

"You like that?"

He just nodded. No point in lying.

"Good." Then she buried her mouth into his neck again.

Shit. Never mind dangerously close to the line, she'd just bulldozed right over it. The shivers ran up and down his back, giving him goosebumps. She was good... Real good.

Or bad, depending on which way you looked at it.

So he told her in a somewhat shaky voice: "You're a real bad girl."

"Not always," she purred into his ear, making him shiver. "Sometimes I'm good." To his delight, she ran her tongue around the edge. "So good... That sometimes I even share..."

Incredulous, he pulled his head back and stared at her smiling face.

He didn't know what to say to that. Hell, he wasn't even sure what she meant by that.

"So..." she said, running her hands up his arms, distracting him again. "She doesn't know, does she?"

"Huh?"

"Sal. About you. And Walt, I mean."

The boner he'd been nursing for a fair part of the evening, slipped away, taking most of the colour from his face with it.

"What?" The voice still worked, for now, at least.

Maddi smiled, still rubbing him, soothing. "She doesn't know."

The sweat was cooling on his face, chilling him, and he had the awful feeling that he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"I..."

Nope. Voice gone.

The rubbing fingers moved up to the back of his neck, where they stroked his damp hair.

"It's okay, John."

Doggett's neck stiffened under her hands.

No. It wasn't fuckin' okay.

If she was saying what he thought she was saying...

"Hey! Relax, big guy." She looked at him. "I'm not going to tell her."

Bluff.

For Christ's sake... Bluff it out.

He shook his head. "Tell her what, Maddi? What're you talkin' about?"

Holding his head still with her hands, Maddi smiled and leaned to peck a kiss on his mouth.

"I suspected, when I saw you checking out his ass."

Doggett swallowed.

"The suspicion grew when I saw the way he smiles at you."

She stroked her thumbs over his cheekbones. "That, was compounded by how you can't go two minutes without checking up on each other."

Another kiss to his lips. "And then there was the expression on your face when we teased you about dancing with him." She smiled softly. "Damn near broke your heart, didn't it, baby?"

Shit.

He opened his mouth, all ready to argue 'til he turned black and blue, but the weight of the evidence bowed his head, and he dropped his chin to his chest.

"Fuck..." he whispered.

"Hhmmm." She pulled his head to her shoulder and squeezed his neck. "It's okay," she whispered.

"It's kinda sweet," she told him.

"Yeah, right," he muttered into a black blouse. He could feel her laughing.

"I can't say I wasn't stunned - and not a little disappointed. I had no idea."

"Neither did I," Doggett muttered into silk a shoulder.

Maddi laughed again. "Now there's a thought. I'd loved to have seen that moment of personal revelation."

He couldn't think of anything decent to say to that, so he just grunted and kept his head buried someplace where he didn't have to look her in the eye.

"You know, John, honey..." she whispered into his burning ear. "If I"m completely honest with you, the whole idea of you and Walt together isn't just kinda sweet..." There was a pause, long enough for Doggett to wonder if she'd forgotten what she was going to say. Her next words belied that, as they slipped sensuously from his ear, down his spine.

"It's actually, amazingly hot."

They both stood still for a moment, then Doggett's head came up slowly. He lifted his eyebrows at her.

"You heard me," she said in reply to his silent question.

He licked his lips and swallowed. "Hot?"

Her laughter tickled his face. "Oh, baby... like you wouldn't believe."

"Get outta here."

"Trust me."

He shook his head. "Uh-uh."

"Oh... yeah." She groaned and brought a hand around to fan her face.

He stared at her. "Says who?" He couldn't believe he was having this conversation.

"About 90 percent of womankind."

"That's B.S."

Maddi shook her head. "You tellin' me guys don't talk about the whole two-girl gig?"

Doggett opened his mouth to argue, but a thousand locker-room moments flooded into his mind, all the way from High School, right through to the Bureau.

"Yeah, well..." He scratched the back of his neck.

"Exactly."

He shook his head. "That don't mean..."

"Now who's talkin' BS?"

"But..."

"Grow up, John. You're a good-lookin' man." She grinned. "So's Walt."

All the colour that had left him, flooded back. Grateful for the dim lighting, he glanced left and right, suddenly concerned at being overheard.

"Maddi..." he muttered, embarrassed.

"Hey! I just tell it like it is."

He'd sooner not hear her version of how it was, thank you. It was making his butt clench.

A hand cupped his jaw and she reached up a tad to kiss his closed mouth.

"It's rude to argue with a lady, John." She kissed him again, forcing him to make eye-contact. "And if I say you and your boyfriend are good-lookin'; then the least you can do is say 'thank you, Maddi'."

He grunted, not happy with hearing the word 'boyfriend' used in reference to him. That earned him a pinch on his cheek.

"Well?"

He tried out a Bureau-Type glare on her. She pinched him again, unimpressed.

"Well?"

Doggett rolled his eyes and sighed. Was he doomed to forever suffer at the hands of bossy women? "Thank you, Maddi," he said with exceedingly bad grace.

"You're welcome," she replied, wrapping her arms back around him.

"So. What d'you say?" she said, ignoring his grumpy demeanour.

"About what, exactly?"

"You and me." He felt her grinning against the side of his neck. "And Walt."

His eyes bugged. She wasn't suggesting...

"Are you..." He cleared his throat and pulled away to look her in the face. "Are you askin' what I think?"

"Yep." She nodded, kneading his shoulders. "You have a problem with that?"

Fuck... yes, he had a problem with it! It was... His mind scrabbled around looking for suitable adverbs to describe his problem, but to his distress, only found a creeping curiosity.

"I don't..." His hand reached around her arm to rub at his face. Shit, he was tired, and hot, and couldn't think straight. Straight??

Oh god, now he was making jokes in his head.

"Walter seemed okay with it," she said.

Fuck!

Doggett's mind checked out for a breath of fresh air.

*

Chapter 7

Much to Doggett's surprise, Sally didn't throw up in the back of the cab on the journey back to his place. She went a very funny colour, and spent an equal amount of time with her head either stuck between her knees, or resting on his shoulder, but kept the contents of her stomach to herself.

Doggett was sincerely grateful that she didn't barf, considering he was right in the firing line. He'd had his fair share of trying to get puke out of clothes in his younger days, and didn't fancy a repeat performance.

When they finally hit Falls Church, Skinner had carried her out of the cab, much to her delight. She had wrapped herself around him, and burrowed so tight, Doggett wondered if they were ever going to be able prise her away.

But after dumping her unceremoniously on the spare bed, Skinner had peeled her arms from around his neck and escaped, with ribald suggestions following him all the way down the stairs.

Doggett winced at his sister's vocal imagination, and again marvelled at how sound travelled in his house.

He volunteered to make coffee while Maddi did what needed to be done with his helplessly giggling sister in the bedroom, and while the two women played patty-cake, or whatever it was girls did, he grabbed Skinner by the arm and hauled him into the kitchen.

"We need to talk," he whispered.

"Yeah?"

Doggett nodded, setting the coffee-machine going.

He peered around the corner to check that Maddi was still occupied. Padding back through, he pulled Skinner into the furthest corner.

"Why John, you animal," Skinner joked, moving close to the other man.

"Not now," Doggett said, shaking free. "Look. It's about Maddi."

"Oh?"

"She..." Doggett rubbed his neck, still feeling her hands on him. "She said somethin' to me..."

Skinner folded his arms. "And?"

"Well, it's kinda embarrassing..."

Skinner chuffed. "Embarrassing? How old are you, exactly?"

"Gimme a break, here."

Shrugging, Skinner tilted his head. "Go on."

Shit. How was he gonna put this? "She wanted to know..." No. That sounded wrong. "She asked..." Ugh! No. Goddammit!

Skinner sighed. "She came on to you?"

Doggett looked up from studying the floor. "Sorta."

"I could see that, by the way you were fighting her off, John. What's your point?"

"My point ?"

"Besides the one in your pants."

Doggett scowled, stung. "Yeah? Well you didn't seem to be havin' too hard a time of it, stickin' your tongue down my sister's throat, an' all."

Skinner grinned. "And very nice it was too, thank you."

Shit, that backfired. Doggett glowered. "Spare me."

"Suit yourself."

Were they going to have their first fight, the coffee machine murmured at them?

"Walter..." He didn't want to fight. Not tonight. Not now. And certainly no over this. "I'm sorry. I'm just cranky and on edge, I guess."

Skinner put his hand out to squeeze his shoulder. "No problem."

He smiled. He had a feeling it would be tough for him to ever have a real fight with this man.

"I just can't believe she..." He shook his head. God, he couldn't even say it.

"Can't believe she wants us both?"

The plink of the coffee covered the sound of Doggett's mind screaming like a girl.

"You knew? God! I thought she was yankin' my chain!"

"I think that forms part of her plan," Skinner laughed.

"Walt..."

"No. I'm sorry." Skinner moved his hand up to Doggett's face. "Hey, Big Dog. Talk to me. You don't like the idea?"

Doggett opened his mouth to say 'oh my god, no...' and 'that's simply the most perverse thing I ever did hear', but nothing came out. He shut it and then tried again.

Same result. This was getting tedious.

"Well?"

Doggett cleared his throat. "I... I don't know." He frowned. "I hafta think about it."

Skinner smiled. "Seems to me like there's not a great deal to think about, John. You either like the idea of sex with both me and this woman, or you don't." He shrugged. "Can't see as I can make it much simpler than that."

Direct and to the point. Hadn't that always been Skinner's approach? And hadn't he always appreciated it until now?

Doggett rubbed his eyes. Everybody seemed to be on the same sexual wavelength tonight, one that he'd missed entirely. God, even his little sister seemed to be more on the ball than him.

And wasn't that just a kick in the clit?

He pulled a face. Bad choice of words.

"Hey, you still with me?" Skinner's big hand shook his head back and forth, gently.

"Yeah. I guess."

"And your answer would be?"

"God, Walt! Didn't you even turn the thought around in your head once, before thinkin' to ask me?"

"Why?"

"Why? Shit! It's a bit of a fuckin' weird thing to want, don't ya think?"

Skinner shook his head. "Nope. Done it before."

Doggett stared. Well, the world sure had a way of gettin' his attention.

"You...?"

"Been there."

"When?"

"Years ago."

"Who?" He shook his head. "Shit, sorry. That's none of my damned business." He bit his lip, thinking about practicalities, physicalities and possibilities. His mind seemingly unable to get past the dirty-picture stage.

He looked at the other man, his mind racing ahead of him, and into the bedroom.

"Was it... Good?" he asked quietly.

Skinner grinned, all teeth. "Oh, yeah. The best."

Shit.

Doggett didn't know whether that was the answer he wanted to hear.

Footsteps on the wooden flooring turned his head.

"She's out like a light," Maddi said, coming into the kitchen. She took one look at the two men, standing by the back door, staring at her, and got the picture.

"Ah. Bet I can guess what you two've been talkin' about." She grinned, and crossing to the coffee-machine, helped herself.

Doggett watched her set out three of his mugs on the counter and fill them. She turned and folded her arms. "So. What's the verdict?"

Skinner walked over to her and took a mug. "Seems the verdict is still out by fifty per cent, I'm afraid, Maddi," he said, sipping his drink.

Skinner exchanged a glance with her, one that Doggett couldn't catch. He frowned and moved to get his mug.

Pulling the sugar canister from the back of the counter, he grabbed a teaspoon and began to heap spoonfuls into his drink. Pausing after three, he grunted and put another two in. Fuck this, he might need the energy.

"That's disgusting," Maddi commented.

"It's his thing," Skinner replied. "Lots of sugar. Lots of food." He made a disparaging noise. "And where does it go?"

"Tell me about it," Maddi snorted. "I only have to look at a calorie, and it wants to come home with me."

"Sickening, isn't it?"

"Totally."

Doggett banged the spoon down. "Do you have to?" Two sets of eyes looked innocently at him.

"What?"

"Talk about me like that."

"We're complimenting you, dipstick."

"Well, don't."

They both laughed. Skinner leaned forward and tapped his chest. "God, you have a real problem, don't you, Piglet?"

Doggett hauled his eyebrows into his hairline. "Y'think? With people callin' me fuckin' names?"

"Oh, get over it. You're just right, okay?" He ruffled Doggett's hair.

Flinching his head away, Doggett pressed his lips together in irritation.

Maddi put her mug down and came up to him. He stared, uneasy. If she ruffled his hair as well, he was going to lock himself in the bathroom 'til Christmas.

She sighed, turned him to face her and brought a hand up to his face.

Doggett only just managed not to flinch.

"John, you know Walt is crazy about you..." He flicked a glance to Skinner, who smiled.

"And you know that I think you're really cute..." He pulled a little face at that, making her smile. "But nothing is gonna happen, unless you want it to. Okay, baby?"

Her palm was warm on his cheek. A thumb ran over the skin under his eye.

It was nice. That much he had to admit.

He grunted again. "I suppose."

"There you go."

Then she leaned in and kissed him. He sighed and let her get on with it.

Eventually, he acknowledged that she wasn't going to stop, and also that as she was doing an okay job of it, he might as well join in.

Somewhere during the kiss, he became aware that as most women didn't possess two pairs of hands, the ones currently squeezing his ass, weren't hers.

He pulled his mouth away and looked behind him, straight into Skinner's dark eyes. He was standing so close, Doggett was surprised he hadn't felt the other man's breath on his neck.

Skinner smiled at him.

Doggett wrinkled up his forehead in return. Smiles might take a little more work.

"I..." he started to say, and then let the rest of the words slip down his throat as Skinner bent his head and licked down the side of his neck.

Leaving a wet trail, the tongue paid a brief visit to his collar-bone, then came back up to run along the edge of his ear.

A little grunt slipped past his lips. Those ears were his weakness in more ways than one.

"See how he likes that?" Skinner muttered, lifting his mouth away from Doggett's neck.

"Oh yeah..." Maddi replied. Her hands ran over his chest, skimming two nipples that were rapidly hardening under the pressure.

"And he just loves this..." Skinner told her, bending his mouth again, to take a lobe between his lips, and sucking.

"Shit!" Doggett shivered, involuntarily. They were discussing him like a lab-experiment. He wasn't sure if that pissed him off or not. His mind was too busy dealing with the sensations Skinner was creating by sucking his ear.

Two large hands slid up underneath his sweater at the back. They moved across his skin to round the front, where they rested, one on each breast. He felt himself being pulled back to lean against Skinner's hard chest.

Two more hands crept up his belly.

Doggett opened his mouth to say something... Anything, really to put the brakes on this thing, to give himself a moment to breathe again.

"Please..."

That wasn't exactly what he'd had in mind, but it was all he could think of. He wondered if the word was piggy-backing on a whine, or if that was just his imagination.

"Hush..." Skinner breathed into his ear, setting him off of another shivering-jag. One of Skinner's hands popped out of the neck of his sweater, and grasped his chin. He pulled his head round, his mouth fitting over Doggett's, his tongue opening it up.

Jesus Christ, thought Doggett, helplessly accepting Skinner's kiss, but acutely aware of their audience. An audience that was currently busy scraping pink nails over his sensitized nipples.

Didn't the sight of Skinner kissing him make Maddi uncomfortable? It sure as hell made him feel more than a little fuckin' weird. He felt his body tense in embarrassment as Skinner ran his tongue across his mouth, and plunged it right back inside, deep enough to poke his back teeth.

Shit, that felt good... Skinner sucked at his shy tongue. Shit, more than good. But dammit! Maddi was watching them getting off, and that was just freaky.

Wasn't she embarrassed at the noises Skinner was makin'? That he was makin'?

"Oh yeah," he heard a light voice whisper, and then he felt her lean in to nip at his other earlobe.

Well, he thought, that answers that question. Looks like he was moving up from a spectator sport into a free-for-all.

That thought unnerved him, almost as much as the idea that the scratching over his chest was burning a line directly to his crotch. Skinner's mouth clamped over his was distracting as shit: he just couldn't sort out his thoughts with his tongue being suckled like that.

He wanted to say something again.

He could feel the warmth of the big chest on his back, smell the uniquely familiar musk of the other man, and in front of him, Maddi's hands were sliding lower, her fingers disappearing down the waistband of his jeans.

A noise crept out of his throat, to be instantly swallowed into Skinner's mouth.

Maddi's fingers met in the centre of his belly, just below his navel, and his muscles jumped nervously, unsure of what she was doing down there. It tickled, and he made a little whimper of protest. Skinner's hands smoothed up and down his chest, soothing him, reassuring him.

Maddi let him know exactly what she was doing down there when the top button on his fly popped open with all the resistance of a milk pudding skin.

Skinner sucked the groan from his mouth.

"Wait..." The word fell out of his mouth as soon as he pulled away from the lure of Skinner.

He dragged in a shaky breath. Then took another, while two pairs of hands did as they were told, and waited.

He rested his head back on a solid shoulder, his eyes tight shut with the effort of breathing properly.

"You okay?" Skinner's breath whispered in his ear.

Doggett swallowed, running his tongue over his lips. Okay? He'd have to think about that.

He pulled himself forward, gently freeing himself from Skinner's embrace. Maddi stepped back, her hands falling to her sides, waiting.

Decision time.

He looked from one calm face to the other, marvelling at their composure.

Sighing, he smoothed his rumpled sweater down. In the few seconds it took to move his hand from neck to waist, Doggett took stock of the situation.

It all boiled down to how brave he felt. His sexual horizons had been stuffed into an envelope and posted beyond his wildest imagination the last few weeks, without him suffering harm or blame. But now he was faced with the idea of pushing that envelope just a little bit further.

He looked at the other two. It wasn't as if he was being asked to abuse small children or animals. They were all adults, here.

Yeah. Weren't they just?

As his hand reached his waist, it slipped under the hem of his sweater, and hooked his thumb over the top of his jeans.

The cool air in the kitchen played over the gap in the buttons, reminding him of what they had been doing.

He nodded, more to himself than the others.

"Okay people," he said, glad his voice was steady. He looked at Maddi, then at Skinner, and smiled, with a confidence he didn't feel. He hoped he wasn't making a huge mistake.

"I suggest we take this someplace else."

*

Chapter 8.

Despite being a highly-trained investigator, Doggett was vaguely puzzled to find he could not recall the exact progression of events from his kitchen, to his present position, namely lying spreadeagled on top of his bed. Somewhere along the way, his sweater and tee had been peeled from his body. Someone in this room had hands faster than any street magician, and he was sure as shit it wasn't him.

Skinner was kneeling on the bed beside him, running fingers through his spiky hair, while the other hand scratched itself across Doggett's chest, from one tight nipple to the other. The sensation was just 'this' side of uncomfortable, making him squirm, small grunts of protest disappearing down Maddi's throat, coaxed out of him by an agile tongue.

Sliding his head to one side, Doggett dragged in a breath and cleared his throat. "Hold up..."

Four hands stilled.

"What's up, Precious?" Maddi smiled down at him.

Eyebrows jerked together in protest at that. He swore he heard a chuff of laughter from Skinner.

"How come..." He coughed to clear his creaky voice. "How come I get to be centre of attention?" Nice as it was, it was making him feel a little self-conscious. A little over-whelmed.

Maddi stroked his cheek. "Why d'you think that?"

Doggett yanked his eyebrows and left hand up, indicating his mostly nude body and supine position. "Hello?"

Maddi chuckled. "It's quite simple, really, Johnny."

He was gonna have to speak to her about callin' him that.

"It's 'cause you're gorgeous, of course." Maddi rubbed her knuckles across his cheek.

"Oh, gimme a..." he began.

"You agree with me, Walter?"

"Definitely."

Doggett turned his head. There was a grin in that voice, he just knew it. He looked, frowning. Yep. There it was.

"Gimme a break, here." Lifting his shoulders, he started to pull himself up.

Skinner put a hand on his chest. "Relax."

"Easier said." Doggett grouched.

"Take it easy." Skinner's hand moved in little comforting circles. "No-one's making fun."

Doggett grunted, not convinced.

Bending, Maddi planted a kiss on his cheek. "You're gorgeous. Just be told."

Skinner grinned and did the same to his other side. "Listen to the lady, John."

A sigh puffed out between Doggett's tight lips. "Yeah well..." he grumbled.

"Just let us take care of you." Maddi ran a hand all the way from his knee to his hip, dragging her pink nails over his skin. Then she leaned over to kiss him, then moved to embrace Skinner, giving Doggett a spectacular view of her breasts, which released from her blouse, had more than fulfilled the promise they had hinted at beneath the silk. They moved and swayed as the kiss deepened.

Doggett gazed up at the two of them, unaccountably out of sorts. There must be something seriously wrong with him. Here he was, alternately being attended to and watching two attractive people getting it on, and he was lying here like a half-naked Grinch. He softly sighed and watched Skinner suck Maddi's tongue into his mouth.

That was sexy.

The bulge in the front of Skinner's shorts told him as much.

Maddi's breasts, heaving above his head agreed.

But somehow, his dick seemed to be on a crazy time-delay to the visual stimulation, and was still sulking at half-mast in his boxers.

What the hell was wrong with him?

He ran an experimental hand up Maddi's thigh to the ferocious heat at the top of her legs. It rested there, familiarizing itself with the warmth. This used to turn him on. He could see Skinner's hand on her breast, kneading and squeezing, showing him that the other man most definitely found what he was doing was a turn-on.

Doggett rubbed gently, closing his eyes, and conjuring images to stir his annoyingly disinterested dick. Maddi twined her fingers in his hair, lightly scratching her nails over his scalp.

Maybe he just needed to...

He worked a finger under the edge of G-string elastic and wiggled it around in the hot wet folds.

Above, Maddi moaned and bucked her hips in appreciation.

Well, at least it was working for her. He pushed his fingers in deep and forward. Hips worked themselves back and forth, and in little circles, asking for more.

In reply, Doggett placed his thumb over the root of her clit, gently massaging in a way he knew his wife had greatly appreciated, a lifetime ago.

"Ah shit!" Maddi appeared to have liberated her tongue.

So what the hell was his problem? Being knuckle deep in pussy should have him ready to cream his shorts. Ordinarily - and perhaps a few weeks ago, it might have.

"Is that good?" He heard a whisper above him. He wondered if Skinner was speaking to him. He hoped not.

"Oh shit... Like you wouldn't believe." Maddi groaned, grinding her hips. Doggett smiled. It was good to be appreciated.

"I told you so."

The smile dropped from his face and his eyes shot open. What the hell? Skinner had been talking about him? Discussing his techniques? Jesus!

The image of Maddi and Skinner dancing, whispering in each others ears about how he was in bed raced across his mind, then flared its perverse way down to his groin, where his cock welcomed it and swelled.

God! His hand squeezed involuntarily and Maddi groaned.

He should be angry... The picture rose in his mind again, dragging his dick up with it. Shouldn't he be angry? The throbbing in his groin seemed to be telling him different.

Was that kinky, or what?

Who cares, his cock said, and his hand, still moving in wet, languid strokes seemed to agree.

And then his wide eyes were filled with the image of Skinner, here and now, grinning, leaning down towards him.

"You sexy beast," the big man told him, then moved in for a kiss before he could argue.

The feel of Skinner's tongue sliding between his lips pushed his cock to the edge of his boxers' waistband. Above him, his hand slipped in and out of Maddi's body in imitation of the thrust of Skinner's tongue. Crazily, despite the distractions, he could hear the scratching of nails clear through his skull as Maddi scrabbled for purchase in his short hair.

"Oh!"

The feminine gasp was followed by a sudden increase in the moisture coating his fingers and hand. He massaged harder, the wetness on his fingers connecting to his wet mouth, in turn bleeding moisture to the tip of his dick in a triangle of sodden lust that made him groan into Skinner's mouth.

As the other man sucked his bottom lip, Doggett felt Maddi pull away from his hand.

"Shit..." he heard the shaky voice curse, the air cooling his hand.

Skinner licked his way out of the kiss, pausing to plant a wet one on the end of Doggett's nose before looking at Maddi.

"You okay?" he asked.

She gave a wobbly laugh, and Doggett turned his head to look at her.

"Oh, sure," she said, sitting back on her heels and running a hand through her raven curls. She was flushed and grinning, her eyes sparkling. He thought it made her look sort of wild and pretty damned sexy, to tell the truth. Even without being mostly naked. He grinned at her.

"Someone just chased me all the way to the finished, that's all." She laughed again and swatted Doggett lightly on the shoulder.

"John, you animal!" Skinner growled in mock severity.

"Whaddid I do?!" Doggett put on his most winsome expression.

Maddi grabbed his hand and held it up. "These should come with a Government Warning." She shook it back and forth. "'Beware Of Long FBI Fingers', or something. God!"

Doggett wiggled the fingers in question. "What, these lil' things?"

"Yeah... Bad Doggett."

He laughed at the look on her face. "Just happy to oblige, Ma'am."

"Yeah, well, I wanted to last a little bit longer before you obliged me, that's all." She pouted, the effect spoiled by the grin trying to escape. She shook his hand again, then pushed it towards Skinner. "Here. I'm not safe with this. You deal with it."

"Be my pleasure, Ma'am." Skinner reached over and took Doggett's hand in his. He kept his eyes locked on Maddi's as he straightened out Doggett's fingers with his other hand. John watched carefully. What was he up to?

He stared as the other man bent his head slightly, and slipped the captured index finger into his mouth.

"Shit!" Doggett's whole body jerked at the sensation. He stared in fascination and forced himself to relax.

Skinner worked his mouth slowly up and down, teeth grazing flesh, his tongue rubbing each side. This sudden, intense heat on his cool finger, zipped to Doggett's crotch and beat in time with his pulse.

"Oh my God!"

The middle finger came next. Sliding slowly between Skinner's lips, welcomed by a gently tongue as he carefully sucked it clean. Doggett couldn't take his eyes off the other man, and he had a feeling that neither could Maddi. It was hypnotic. Mesmeric. Erotic.

Shit, was it ever erotic.

Skinner was making little satisfied noises in the back of his throat, the vibration ran down Doggett's finger, into his palm.

The thumb was swallowed next. Very precisely, very gently.

Working a very dry mouth, Doggett doubted whether or not he could take much more of this. He hadn't realised that his fingers had a direct line down to his dick, which was becoming quite painful now it had got it's act together. He pushed his groin up in a futile effort to relieve the pressure.

"Jesus, Walter..." That was Maddi.

Walter just grinned and turned Doggett's hand slightly to expose his palm.

"Yes?" he asked.

"That's just..." Words seemed reluctant to describe what Maddi thought this was. Doggett could understand that.

Grinning at her failure to vocalize, Skinner dipped his head and slowly licked the open palm.

"Fuck!" Barking out the only word he could think of to cover the sensation, Doggett stared up at Skinner smiling down at him.

"Eventually," he said, and licked again. As he trailed his tongue down over the ticklish skin on his wrist, Doggett made a noise in his chest that wasn't quite a groan, not even a laugh, but something deep and strangled, in between.

"Oh Jesus..." Maddi leaned forward and grabbed Skinner's face. She pulled him away from Doggett's hand and kissed him once, hard, then pulled away and looked into his eyes. "I want to watch."

"Watch what?" Skinner asked, in the tone of voice that suggested he knew the answer, but wanted to hear her say it.

Maddi swallowed, and took a breath. "I want to watch you do that all over his body."

Doggett's belly clenched at her words.

She ran her thumbs over Skinner's cheekbones. "Yes?"

Skinner grinned. "Yes."

*

Chapter 9.

Opening his mouth to enquire if he had any say in the matter, Doggett's libido strangled the words before they made it partway out of his throat.

And upon reflection, he thought, as Skinner knelt over his hips, maybe that was an astute move.

He sighed and leaned his head back into Maddi's lap, resigning himself to the situation. There were worse ways to spend a Saturday evening.

And lying on your back while your boxers were slowly peeled from your body and a beautiful woman rained kisses down on your face, had to make the top ten of possibilities.

Shit... the top three, at least.

Watching his black shorts sail across the room, Doggett was genuinely surprised to feel no crushing need to go over and pick them up off the floor. Maybe he was loosening up in his old age. Was a time when knowing underwear was lying in a heap would have driven him to distraction.

Skinner ran two big hand up his thighs and Doggett grinned. This was a much better way to be driven to distraction.

He stretched his arms up to run his hands across milk-white shoulders and down to cup the underneath of breasts that were happily now doing to him what they ought, in the arousal department.

"That's nice," Maddi purred, arching her back while he thumbed her nipples.

Running her hands down his arms, and over his armpits, running the backs of her fingers through the fine hairs several times, making him shudder.

"Tickles," he gasped, wondering if he was going to regret telling her that.

To his intense relief, the fingers moved away without further torture, up and over to his chest.

"Sorry, baby," she whispered, fingers stroking over his nipples.

"S'okay," he grunted, feeling himself tighten up at her touch, the raised nubs hyper-sensitive to each caress. God, that felt good.

He rolled both her nipples between fingers and thumbs to reciprocate, making her gasp.

"Shit!"

She thrust herself out, forcing Doggett's head further into her lap.

He could smell her hot musk. Primitive instinct - reaction to the scent, brought his hips from the bed. His cock throbbed, aching to bury itself in her.

He felt Skinner's hands on his hips, holding him down. Frustratingly, it made him want to thrust more.

"Open your legs, John," The deep voice told him, from somewhere down near the foot of the bed. He felt large hands pulling at his knees, tugging them apart.

Doggett obeyed the command, a flutter of something painfully self-conscious deep in his belly protesting over exposing himself like this in front of Maddi. Something that died under the crush of lust that washed over him as he felt the first stroke of Skinner's tongue on the inside of his thigh.

"God!" The gasp escaped him before he could bite down. Maddi's hands spread across his chest, holding him still.

"Shhhh," she told him, matching Skinner's licks with strokes of her hand across his heaving chest.

Looking up with wide eyes, Doggett watched her watching what was happening to him. She had a look of fierce concentration and sexual arousal on her face that might have made him nervous, if he hadn't been almost delirious with lust.

Skinner's mouth was moving up his groin and over his hips, gently licking at the skin in a way that was making Doggett pant with anxiety and need.

"Shit!" He anticipated each stroke of the tongue, his body tensing and rising to meet it, despite the fact all his nerve-endings were insisting this was just pure fucking torture.

Up over his ribs to where Maddi had begun to scratch her nail over his left nipple. Her sharp stings were replaced by a hot mouth, the wet kisses, soothing and rubbing over the abused skin. Moving higher, Skinner took little bites all the way up to his collar bone, then back to his pecs.

"Good?" he asked.

Doggett nodded. The wet mouth was now worrying at the side of his chest, just beyond his nipple, towards his armpit. If he went any closer to that, then Doggett was gonna scream, whether it was masculine or not.

A whimper whined in the back of his throat. He could feel the heat of Skinner's body over his - and if he arched his back just so, he could feel the scratch of body hair on the tip of his dick. Another whine trickled out.

His hips came up again. Just a touch more...

But Skinner raised his head, scraped his teeth over Doggett's chin then moved away, taking the wonderful feel of chest hair with him. Pulling his head from the warmth of Maddi's lap, all wrinkled forehead and beseeching eyes, Doggett made a thin noise of protest, trying to let them know his dick was going to explode at the next whisper of contact, and if it wasn't too much trouble, could someone please touch him now?

"No. Not yet," Maddi instructed.

Doggett's eyebrows met over his eyes in pathetic knots. "But..." he croaked out. She couldn't mean that...

"He's almost there," Skinner told her.

"Not yet." She was adamant.

Doggett's head flopped back, the ex-husband in him recognising the tone of voice, that told him Maddi was going to win this one. Whether he like it or not.

The licking and petting stopped.

"Okay. You're the boss." Apparently Skinner had developed the same instinct. He supposed it was a married-male thing - one that lay next door to self-preservation. But wherever it lay, Doggett thought, wiping his hand over his face, it was completely, utterly, fucking frustrating.

"You tryin' to kill me?" he groaned up at her.

Sitting on his trembling legs, Skinner laughed. "Can't take the pressure, John?"

"Fuck you," he replied, conversationally.

"Now, now, boys," Maddi patted Doggett's chest. "Walter will get his, don't you worry..." The hand on his chest dipped down to his stomach. "I just want to play a little longer. You don't mind that, do you, Johnny?"

On balance, Doggett thought, as her hand circled his belly-button, he could put up with a bit of a wait, and her calling him that. The fringe-benefits outweighed the irritation.

"You're the boss," he told her. Then tilting his head back, he grinned and pulled her arms towards him. "C'mere."

As the breasts loomed above him, he took hold of one and guided it towards his mouth, and was rewarded by her sudden intake of shocked breath.

*

Chapter 10.

If pleasuring a woman was something a man's body didn't forget, then pleasuring another man's body must be instinctive, Doggett mused to himself after he had pulled himself away from the delights of Maddi's breast to kneel before Skinner.

He knew exactly how much pressure to exert on the testicles he currently had in his hand, and the cock between his teeth. A squeeze and a scrape of said teeth dragged a groan out from above him.

"Jesus!"

Doggett grinned as Skinner pushed helplessly forward, forcing his cock further into his mouth. No way, Boss-man, he thought, pulling back. You don't get off that easy. He was gonna see that the bigger man paid a visit to the end of his tether before he got release. Giving one last hard suck, he sat back on his heels.

"You 'bout ready to beg, Walter?"

Skinner threw him a look. "Think you're man enough?"

Doggett laughed. Tough words, but the voice was wobbly. "Well if I'm not, then I'm sure Maddi will take charge."

"Better believe it, Mister," Maddi told him, knee-walking over to them. She nudged Doggett aside.

Laying her hand on the broad chest in front of her, she stared into the brown eyes for a long moment, as if taking the measure of the man in front of her. Doggett wondered what was going through her mind. And if it ought to make either of them nervous.

"Kiss me," she told him.

Skinner took hold of her by the shoulders and did as he was told.

Doggett watched in fascination. He had supposed this would make him feel a little uncomfortable - seeing 'his' man kissing someone else - up close and personal. Imagined that all of his territorial instincts would rage in indignation. But apparently not.

Maybe it was because Maddi was a woman, and therefore different from him: not a threat to his position as Skinner's lover.

He ran his hand up from the tight balls to the base of a cock with which he had more than a passing acquaintance.

Skinner's lover. He rolled the two words around inside his head, looking at them from every angle, finding warm pleasure in the words. Yeah, he thought. I'm Skinner's lover.

Impulsively, he leaned in and kissed the side of the other man's neck.

Maddi broke away from the embrace. "Help yourself," she told him, smiling.

Doggett smiled back, took hold of Skinner's jaw and turned his head to kiss him thoroughly.

He didn't care that they were being watched.. Quite the contrary - he took pleasure in being able to do this in front of someone else, without shame, guilt or fear. It was refreshing and liberating.

"God, that's hot," Maddi whispered after several long moments.

Was it? Doggett wondered, his tongue sliding up the underside of Skinner's. He pulled it into his mouth. Maybe it was just a 'girl' thing. He didn't think he'd get off on watching two guys neck. That nearly made him laugh. Yeah. Definitely a girl thing.

Concentrate, John...

He put his other hand up to Skinner's face, to hold him still. Let's do this right for the lady. Sliding his mouth over Skinner's he used his teeth to tease the other man's upper lip, Skinner scraping his teeth over his chin in reply.

He could still taste the beer in Skinner's spit, and a hint of Maddi's perfume, too.

He licked the side of the other man's mouth to see what else he could taste. Well, that and to give Maddi a thrill, he admitted to himself. Shit - he was beginning to enjoy this in a big way.

He felt a small hand disappearing down his body.

Apparently so was Maddi. He pulled away, wiping saliva from his chin. The tell-tale build-up in his stomach was getting out of hand... If she carried on stroking down there...

"Might wanna back off of me a while," he told her apologetically. "I'm real close, right now."

Maddi smiled. "Sure, babe. Let's have some fun with the big guy, instead."

He nodded. "Sounds good to me."

"Me too," Skinner added, sneaking a quick kiss on Maddi's cheek.

"Okay then." Business-like, Maddi tapped her fingers on Skinner's chest. "Stand for me."

He tilted his head.. "Stand?"

"Here." She pointed at the foot of the bed.

Looking bemused, Skinner climbed down and stood. "Here?"

"There." She nodded.

Doggett grinned. "Who's a good little soldier, then?" he teased. Skinner showed him the finger.

Doggett's grin faded as Maddi clicked her fingers at him. "You too," she said.

Skinner laughed at Doggett's expression as he climbed down off the bed. "Now who's the good little soldier?" he mocked.

Doggett folded his arms over his chest and scowled, wondering if he looked a total jerk standing like this, with a woody.

"Now, now, gentlemen," Maddi chided, getting off the bed and moving round Skinner's motionless form. "Play nice." She looked Skinner up and down. "Can you stand real still for me, Walter?" she asked. "I mean, really still."

Skinner looked sideways at her. He frowned slightly. "That depends."

"Oh?" Maddi continued to circle him. "On what, exactly?"

"Whatever it is you've got in mind," Skinner replied, turning his head the other way to look at her again. She wasn't saying a word, just looking.

"Well?" he prompted.

She didn't speak again for another circuit, even beginning to make Doggett nervous. "You were in the army?" She asked, obliquely.

Skinner shook his head. "Marines."

"Ah."

His eyes flicked to Doggett. "John too," he added, obviously wanting to spread the joy.

She smiled. "Even better."

"Why d'you want to know?" Skinner asked, and Doggett wondered if there wasn't perhaps a hint of nervousness in his voice.

He couldn't resist it. "Chickenshit, Walt?"

That finger popped up again.

"Oh dear," she said. "I asked for still, Walter," Maddi told him, dragging a pink nail all the way from neck to crotch. Skinner flinched and took half a step back.

"That wasn't very still at all, was it?"

Skinner clenched his jaw in that way of his and stared at her. "I wasn't aware I was under orders."

She shrugged. "So. Now you are."

"Okay," Skinner said, looking carefully at her. "What d'you want me to do?"

"Nothing."

He frowned. "Nothing?"

"Absolutely nothing." Doing that circling-thing again, she nodded in approval at his refusal to turn his head. "John and I will be doing it all."

Doggett's head tilted in curiosity at that.

"Is that so?" Skinner asked.

"Uh-huh." Leaning in to run her tongue across the underside of his chin, she smiled at him. "You have a problem with that?"

Skinner looked at Doggett, then back at Maddi. Eventually, a sigh made its way out of him. "No," he said.

"Good." Holding her hand out to Doggett, Maddi grinned. "Then let's play," she said.

*

Chapter 11.

Skinner's control was impressive, Doggett thought. There may have been a tremble every now and then, but on the whole, he managed to tolerate being kissed, stroked and petted very well. He wasn't entirely sure he could have stood it so stoically - especially the business of the tongue in the ear.

It was a bit like their first time together after the Eros club. Only this time he had someone to talk to about it. Someone to listen when he said: Look at this... Isn't this great? And see what happens when I do this?

Maddi pointed things out to him that he hadn't appreciated, before. Things he supposed only women noticed. Like how the back of Skinner's neck smelled. Like how he trembled when she kissed the bit below the curve of his butt cheeks; and how the skin on the inside of his elbow was the softest.

"See how you can make one of his tits pucker up when you suck the opposite side of his neck?" She demonstrated.

"Shit," Doggett watched wide-eyed. "Can I try?"

"He's your boyfriend," she said, making him smile. "Although I shouldn't leave marks, if I were you," she warned.

"Yeah." He could just imagine poor Skinner having to wear a turtle-neck sweater to the office, to cover up the evidence.

He tried. It worked, much to his delight. "Wouldja look at that."

Laughing and bending her head, Maddi put her mouth to the expanse of fur in front of her.

Skinner made a squeaking noise and stepped back again, putting his hand to his chest.

"Shit!" The control had vanished.

"Oh dear, Walter," Maddi said, shaking her head, sadly.

"You bit me!" he accused, frowning and rubbing.

"And?"

"Well..." Skinner spluttered. "You never said anything about biting!"

"Didn't I?" She was the picture of innocence.

"No." A full-scale Skinner-scowl clouded his face.

"Well, I didn't say I wouldn't, either."

Holding her finger up in front of him, Maddi shook it from side to side. "I think maybe someone needs a little reminder about obeying orders."

"But..."

"Ah-ah." The finger wagged. "Bad Walter." She turned to look at Doggett, sliding him a sly wink. "John? I think I need a little help, here."

"Happy to oblige, Ma'am," he told her, enjoying the look of indignation that crossed Skinner's face. "Where d'you want me?"

Maddi frowned, pretending to think, hand on chin. "Hmmmm. How about..." She brightened. "Right behind him, I think."

"Yes Ma'am!" Doggett bit down on a chuckle and moved in back of a man with a very rigid back.

"Do you think you could spread your legs a little, for me, Walter?" Maddi asked. "You're a little too tall for me."

Looking over Skinner's shoulder, Doggett watched her smile sweetly. He had a feeling that smile didn't reflect what was going on inside that woman's head. He felt a grin spread over his own face in anticipation. This should be good.

Huffing like a bad-tempered giant, Skinner moved each foot one step apart. "Happy?"

Maddi held up two fingers. "A touch more?"

Sighing for real, he did as he was asked.

"Perfect!" Stepping closer, Maddi was now only a touch short of Skinner's mouth.. He wondered what was the point of that little manoeuvre. Maybe just a power thing, he thought. Proving she could make him do what she wanted.

"Now. If you could put your hands behind your head, Walter..." Maddi told him. Then added, smiling: "Please."

From his posture, Doggett could just imagine the expression on Skinner's face as the arms came up obediently, if rather slowly.

"Is this necessary?" he asked, a little tersely.

Maddi nodded. "Oh, I think so." She peered around. "Don't you, John?"

Grinning, he shrugged. "Hey... Whatever you say." He tracked his eyes up and down the man in front of him, hands twined behind his head, showing off his muscles most effectively. "Looks good to me," he added.

"Doesn't it just?"

Skinner sighed again.

"Shhhhh." Maddi put a finger to his lips, then slid her hand down his neck onto his shoulder. "Johnny, sweetheart," she said, peering through the gap. "A double arm-lock, I think. Don't you?"

Doggett laughed, the sound not quite drowning out the huff of protest from Skinner.

"Oh yeah," he said, quickly slipping both his arms round the other man, then up through the bend at his elbows. "Definitely."

He held on to Skinner's wrists, locking then to the back of his head, before he had the chance to wriggle free.

Now he saw the point of the manoeuvre.

"I don't think..." Skinner began, tugging on his arms.

"No. That's right. You don't have to think," Maddi tod him. "You just have to relax and enjoy."

Doggett felt the snort that came out of Skinner's mouth, clear through the back of his head.

"Enjoy this?" He sounded incredulous.

"Why not?" Maddi patted his cheek. "You're stripped naked, held tight in your lover's arms..." Her glance flickered to Doggett, then back again. "And just about to have a beautiful woman drop to her knees in front of you." She smiled. "I think that's a recipe for enjoyment, don't you?"

This time, Doggett felt the man swallow and take a breath. He leaned in and licked the bit of neck he could get at.

"Whaddya think, Walt?" Pushing his hips into the rigid ass in front of him, he ground himself hard against Skinner. "Feels kinds hot, huh?"

He only got a cursory grunt as a reply, but his real answer came in the way Skinner pushed back against his cock.

The heat from their bodies brought Doggett's dick back up from the half-way point where it'd been resting. He could feel himself swelling, growing harder. And he was damn sure Skinner could feel him, too.

"Okay, then," Maddi said, firmly. "Let's see what we can do now."

Through the gap in Skinner's elbow, Doggett watched as she disappeared from view.

There was a long pause. He could feel Skinner tremble, slightly, with what he imagined was anticipation. The other man's breathing was increasing.

Unable to see, Doggett wondered what Maddi was up to. He wanted to ask Skinner for a commentary, but he didn't think it very likely the man would be able to keep up a conversation.

Skinner's back arched sharply and he yelped. "Shit!" Doggett struggled to maintain his grip on the strong arms.

No sound from Maddi.

Skinner pushed back against him again, air hissing between clenched teeth. His hips jerked spasmodically. What was happening was either very good, or very painful.

Doggett held the captured wrists more firmly. "S'okay, Walt," he whispered in a hot ear. "S'okay... I got ya."

"Christ!" The word shot from between Skinner's teeth, and for a second, Doggett considered letting him go free, unsure as to whether or not he was hurting.

And then there was a gasp and a groan. "Oh... Shhhhit - That's good!"

Grinning, Doggett held fast. Okay then. He could relax and go with it. As there were no more comments, he presumed that Maddi had both her hands and mouth full.

Judging by the little line of 'oh!'s coming out of Skinner, she must be pretty damned good at it, too.

Instinctively pushing his erection deep into the crack of Skinner's ass, he moved his own hips in lazy circles. His chest slid across Skinner's back, and by pushing his hips out, he could feel Skinner's butt on the top of his legs. Almost like he was sitting on Doggett's lap.

It felt kinda good. Doggett grinned and moved around some more. Actually, real good.

He inhaled the scent of a rapidly warming Skinner and closed his eyes.

"Feel that, big guy?" He pushed harder, rubbing himself into the heat of the butt cheeks. "S'that good?"

A groan, deep enough to rattle Doggett's teeth burst out of Skinner's mouth. That was a good enough answer, he supposed, given the circumstances.

Pushing his hips into Skinner like this, feeling the hard body crushed up against his, firm butt-cheeks flexing against his cock, he felt an undeniable throb of need beating away in his groin. Holding Skinner tight, with the big man unable to move, it was lighting a touch-paper of desire he'd not felt before.

In all the weeks he and Skinner had been seeing one another, Doggett had not yet plucked up the courage or desire to ask if he could fuck Skinner. They had done just about everything else to each other, but despite Skinner offering several times, he's just never felt any burning desire to take him up on it. And yet...

His skin prickled with perspiration, mingling with the glow he could feel forming all over Skinner's back and arms. Shit! This was more than good!

Little noises were coming out of Skinner, noises he recognised from countless times he'd coaxed them from the other man, either on his knees, or tail to tail on the bed... Or the floor, or the sofa...

And they were having the same effect on him now. Turning him on something fierce. His cock was sliding between Skinner's cheeks - helped with either sweat or pre-come. Probably the latter, he thought, grinding himself harder.

"Oh yeah..." he breathed into Skinner's neck. "You feel me? Feel this?"

He jerked forward, sharply, whispering the thought that had suddenly bloomed in his head, and now occupied most of his mind: "I wanna give it to you, big guy."

He bit down on the arm in front of his mouth, without realising.

"Shit... I wanna do this." He echoed the groan that wheezed out of Skinner.

"You gonna let me, Skinner?" Another sharp jerk of his hips. "Huh?"

He cold feel the nape of Skinner's neck, damp and shiny with perspiration, the skin glistening, the fringe of dark hair above it, curling slightly.

"Huh?" he asked again. "Yeah?"

Skinner's hips were moving in a desperate rhythm, back and forth, into Maddi's mouth, back against John's erection.

"Y..." he gasped.

Doggett pulled back on his arms, pushing the heaving chest out. "Whaddya say?"

"Ye..." The partial word was clearly too much for Skinner, but not enough for Doggett.

"Tell me..." he ordered the frantic man in his arms. "Tell me you want this."

Skinner was openly shaking now, Doggett could feel his legs threatening to give way. "I..."

"Say it, Skinner!"

Doggett was turned on beyond belief, hyper-aware of everything. The trembling man, the sound of his gasps, the smell of their hot skin, the whole damn idea of having Skinner trapped in his embrace, helpless. "Say you want me..."

Pushing and grinding, Doggett bit the arm again, tasting the salt of sweat, feeling the hairs under his tongue.

"YES!" The word ripped out of Skinner, roaring out of his mouth, filling the bedroom with the sound of him giving his consent and his come.

Doggett, a hairs breath away from ejaculating with him, wrapped his arms securely around Skinner's chest as the bigger man sank to his knees.

*

Chapter 12.

That yell must have woken Sal up, Doggett thought. Must have.

He insisted he should go check up on her, until Maddi looked rather pointedly at his raging erection and suggested that perhaps, on balance, it might be prudent from John to stay in his room. And blushing, he had to agree.

So while Walt lay on the carpet, getting his breath back, Maddi slipped to the spare room to check up on the sleeping woman.

Doggett smiled at the hairy heap on the floor, running a hand over the rising chest. "You okay?"

A dark eye cracked open.

"Walt?"

Eventually, a hand came up to scrub at his face. "God..." a voice said from behind the palm.

Doggett laughed softly. "You look wiped out."

"I think I'm dead."

"Pretty good-lookin' corpse, if y'ask me."

Skinner just groaned.

Running a hand over the bald head, Doggett bent and placed a kiss on the creased forehead. "Hey," he said.

The eyes opened again. "What?"

Doggett pursed his lips, looking for the right words. "You mean it?" he said at last.

Skinner looked calmly back up at him.

"I did," he said, understanding instantly. "Why? You changed your mind?"

Doggett grinned. "Not a chance."

"Glad to hear it."

The door snicked shut. "She's still in the land of the fairies," Maddi said, then realising, slapped her hand to her mouth, choking back a laugh.

Two sets of eyebrows frowned up at her.

"Sorry guys - didn't mean that the way it sounded!" She put out a hand to them both. "Come on, soldiers. Up. I don't know about you, but I"m way too old to roll about on the floor."

"Who're you callin' old?" Skinner griped, taking her hand.

"Gimme a break, Mister Sensitive," she told him, heaving them both up.

"I think she was callin' us fairies, actually," Doggett muttered.

"Yeah?"

"Sounded like it to me."

Skinner shook his head. "Unacceptable, my man." He glanced at Maddi, his eyes narrowing. "Think we should get her?"

"Doggett nodded. "Sounds good to me." He turned and looked Maddi up and down.

She backed up to the bed, hands out front, laughing. "Hey, now... A joke's a joke, guys. I said I was sorry."

The two men exchanged a glance, then turned, advancing on her.

"Woah!" Stepping backwards, giggling, Maddi hit her knees on the mattress and fell on the bed, followed by two large, grinning men.

"Fairies, huh?" Doggett said, grabbing her wrists, and pulling them above her head.

"Old, huh?" Skinner lifted her hips and scooted her further up the bed, hooking his thumbs in her lacy panties and yanking them down.

"Hey, guys!" Squirming and laughing, she tried to wriggle free, only to find a large FBI man sitting with his knees astride hers.

"We'll see about that," he growled. He looked up. "Agent Doggett?"

"Yes, sir?"

"I think Miss Smith needs a lesson in discipline. Don't you?"

"Undoubtedly, sir." Doggett put both of her wrists in one hand, bent down and kissed her. She squealed into his mouth in surprise.

"Let's see how still you can stay, shall we?" Skinner said in grim satisfaction.

She couldn't speak with Doggett's tongue between her lips.

"How still you can stay while two old fairies play with you?"

Doggett chuffed into her mouth, grinning. He lifted his head, he couldn't do this properly, laughing. Glancing down at Skinner, he watched as the other man winked at him, then leaned froward to lick Maddi's breast.

"On your mark, Marine," he told Doggett, nodding to the other side.

"Yessir!" Bending to obey, the two men each took a nipple and attended to business.

Maddi squirmed. God, how she squirmed. It took all of Doggett's strength to keep her hands from pulling his hair out from the roots. He could only imagine the struggle Walt was having with keeping her legs from doing him permeant damage.

Seemed that Miss Smith was particularly sensitive in the nipple department.

"Jesus guys!" she gasped. "God!"

Letting go of her hands for a second, Doggett glanced at her.

"You okay?" he asked, grinning. She was very pink and flushed.

"Shuddup and get back to work," she gasped, pushing him down to her chest.

Doggett laughed. "Bossy!"

She swatted the back of his head.

"You having trouble with the objective, John?" Skinner asked, lifting his wet mouth.

Doggett rubbed his head. "Objective is being objectionable, Walt."

"Well. We'll have to do something about that, won't we? But first..."

He leaned forward and captured Doggett's mouth.

They kissed for a healthy dose of time, all teeth and tongues, giving Maddi a worm's eye view of things. This was definitely ringing Doggett's bells, despite any earlier reservations. He slid his head this way and that, cupping Skinner's face with his hand. Five o'clock shadow scraped his palm.

"Guys?" Maddi whispered, eventually.

Skinner broke away. "Hush," he told her, putting a finger to her lips. "Patience."

Moving back, he spent another few minutes inside Doggett's mouth, before kissing his way out.

Pecking a kiss on Doggett's cheek, Skinner winked again. "I think you should continue with the upper objective, John. I'll see what I can do with the southern forces."

Maddi gave a little whine, wriggling as Skinner moved to force a knee between hers.

"Open up, woman," he ordered, putting his other knee between her legs when she complied.

Doggett watched as he grabbed her by the backs of the knees, and pulled her legs wide and up, a patent Skinner-move he was particularly fond of.

"That's more like it..." Skinner muttered in satisfaction. He glanced up at Maddi's wide eyes. "Brace yourself, my dear. I'm going down."

Doggett bit back a bark of laughter at Skinner's words, vastly amused by the expression on Maddi's face.

"Shit!" she gasped, as Skinner's face disappeared between her legs.

Revenge was sweet, Doggett thought, bending his own head and taking a very erect nipple between his teeth. She was gonna pay for all that soldier shit she put Skinner through. The man was very good with that tongue.

He reached over and took the other pink bud in his hand.

Maddi groaned and thrashed. "Bastard!" she choked out, hips coming up off the bed.

Doggett used his hand to push her belly down. Wouldn't do to break Walt's nose. It'd seen enough of that, by the look of it.

"Oh, fuck!"

Not very lady-like language, Doggett grinned, his head coming up. Wonder what was going on down there? He looked down to where Skinner knelt, holding her lags apart. As he watched, the other man gently brought his tongue from deep inside her, in a slow sweep, up over her clit and then back down again. Her hips followed the movement. Ah. So that's what he was doing.

Maddi whined in the back of her throat as Skinner plunged deep inside.

Doggett watched, mesmerized by Skinner's technique. It was amazing how many different ways the man had of eating pussy. Hard and fast, slow and gentle, the combination was making Maddi crazy, just as she got into the rhythm of one, he changed tempo. Doggett shook his head in admiration. Shit - he'd thought he was good doin' that. Not as if he'd ever had any complaints, but shit! Skinner put him in the shade.

He wondered for one crazy moment if he should ask Walt if he'd ever taken an certain advanced algebra course.

As he watched, absently twisting a nipple between his fingers, Skinner's hand came out from underneath Maddi's leg and slid up to join the fun. What now? Doggett wondered. A two-pronged attack, maybe?

A couple of long fingers stroked for a minute, spreading juices over themselves, before disappearing inside.

Maddi yelped and bucked. Bingo, Doggett thought as Skinner's fingers moved in and out of Maddi's wet folds, a long tongue flicking lazily over her clit.

His erection burned from the visual stimulation. He knew that if he touched himself right now, it would take just moments to bring himself off. He smiled. No. He was going to force himself to wait just a little bit longer.

Shifting down the bed to get a better view, Doggett noted with raised eyebrows, the angle Skinner's present position put his ass in.

Sticking up.

Waving in the wind.

Practically inviting him. Calling him, even. Doggett grinned wickedly and slithered further down the bed. Oh yeah.

So engrossed in the job at hand, Skinner paid no attention to the fact Doggett had slipped behind him.

He knelt there for a while, admiring the way the muscles bunched and tensed under the tanned skin, then, reaching out, slipped his hand between Skinner's open legs and cupped his balls.

The big man jumped.

"Relax," Doggett whispered, running a light thumb over his scrotum. "I'm not gonna hurt you."

Skinner grunted and did as he was told. Even parted his legs a little more, much to Doggett's amusement. Seemed the Assistant Director was definitely a tactile creature. He reached further round, taking Skinner's cock in his hand, squeezing gently. He was stunned to feel it twitch. Jesus! So much for older men and recovery periods. Feeling wicked, he bent his head and bit the cheek in front of him, making it tense up.

"Hey!" Obviously pausing enough to speak, Skinner waggled his ass in rebuke.

Doggett grinned. "Stop complainin'," he told him, landing an open palm on the other cheek.

It made rather a satisfying noise. So he did it again.

"Doggett," Skinner growled from between Maddi's legs.

"Yeah?" One more slap, this time with feeling. Then he returned the compliment he'd received the first time they were together, and kissed Skinner soundly on both cheeks.

"There. Now shut up and get on with what you're doin'"

A strangled gasp and squeal from Maddi told him Skinner was following instructions.

Taking his hand from a rapidly swelling dick, Doggett cupped the firm ass and ran his thumbs up the crack from ball to top. Yeah, he wanted this. The thought of sinking his dick into the other man made his stomach tighten, the way he was kneeling behind Skinner's raised ass making the ache worse. Biting back a sudden urge to just slam into the other man, common sense and courtesy dictated that if he was gonna do it, he should do it right.

He knew what the order of service was. Skinner had been banging his ass for long enough for him to have that particular form of worship down pat.

Lube. He needed lube. Looking left and right, he tried to remember if the 'stuff' was on Skinner's side of the bed or his. He frowned. Shit. Either way, it meant a search.

FBI agents are an inventive bunch, he smiled, as a thought occurred.

Reaching underneath Skinner, he stretched his fingers out until he found what he was looking for.

Pulling Skinner's hand aside, Doggett imitated the way the other man had stroked at Maddi. Running his fingers up and down, he grinned, leaning against Skinner's ass, feeling her body twitch in appreciation.

Could she tell the difference between the two sets of hands? He'd ask her later, if he remembered. Sliding himself slowly into the hot vagina, Doggett turned his hand this way and that, coating himself thoroughly. Maddi groaned and ground her hip into his hand. He pumped gently in time to the movements of Skinner's chin.

Finally pulling out, he grinned as Skinner licked the back of his hand, before moving to slide his own hand back in place.

Still smiling, Doggett pulled his hand up and looked at it, glistening with promise.

Oh yeah. Mother Nature, you're a doll, he thought, sliding it along the crack of Skinner's ass. The other man flinched slightly.

"Easy there, Walt," he whispered. "You know what I'm doin'."

Very gently, he scraped the end of his finger over Skinner's entrance. Maddi's juices did an excellent job. Pushing carefully, he eased the tip of his finger in, taking care not to go too fast.

Skinner groaned into Maddi's crotch and clenched.

With a very wicked expression, Doggett leaned over to press his belly to Skinner's back and reached around to take a none-too soft cock in his other hand.

"Hey, there, Mister Skinner," he whispered, pushing his finger a little further in and squeezing his other hand. "This feel good?"

"Shit!" Skinner thrust forward, then back.

Doggett laughed softly. He had learned a thing or two since the Eros Club.

"You like that?" he asked, pumping both hands at the same time.

"Fuckin' hell, John!"

Doggett chuckled. Skinner leaned round to look at him with a feeble attempt at a frown.

"Say 'hi'," Doggett told him and bent his finger forward.

"SHIT!" This time Skinner's hips leaped, damn near knocking Doggett off the end of the bed.

"Hey, guys," Maddi called from underneath. "Can we do this properly?"

Doggett held Skinner's hip and looked round at her. "You have something in mind?" he asked, intrigued.

She grinned at him, eyes shining. "What d'you think?"

*

Chapter 13.

Bit like a military manoeuvre, Doggett thought. Although he doubted whether they covered this particular eventuality in Basic Training, as the three of them sorted out the pillows, condoms and lube. Definitely hadn't been part of his Training. Nor Walt's he'd wager.

Perhaps they taught it in Grade School Teacher Training. He grinned.

"What's so funny?" Skinner asked him, throwing a cushion across the bed.

"Oh, nothin'," he lied.

"Johnny be good," Maddi wagged a finger at him, smiling. "Or Walter and I will leave you out."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Snapping a salute, Doggett grinned back as she came up to him and planted a wet kiss on his mouth.

"I love it when you call me that."

"I bet you do."

"Okay." Skinner stood, boner jutting out, his hands on his hips. "Let's go."

Maddi tilted her head. "Bossy, isn't he?"

Doggett rolled his eyes. "You have no idea."

"Well, what say you and I make something that'll shut him up for at least five minutes."

"Bring it on," Doggett told her, slipping a companiable arm around her shoulder. "So... What're we talking about?" he asked.

Maddi grinned up at him. "I was thinking along the lines of a Walter Sandwich."

Doggett laughed. "That's sounds great! Whaddya think, Walt?"

Skinner shrugged, an amused smile on his face. "Sure. I'm game."

"Game, set and match, my man," Maddi told him, reaching to tweak a nipple.

"Let's go for it," she said, leaping into the middle of the cushions, and sitting cross-legged. The sight drew both men's eyes.

"Tonight, gentlemen." She patted the bed.

Skinner and Doggett exchanged a glance then went to sit, one either side of her.

"No. No, not like that." Maddi shuffled over, taking Doggett by the hand and leading him to the other side.. "I want to watch while you get Walt ready." She grinned at him.

"Um..." Doggett scratched his head. "Sure." She was definitely a one for the visuals, he thought. He looked at Skinner, who was stretching himself out on his side, reaching for Maddi.

Shrugging, he sank down behind, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You okay, Walt?" he asked, interrupting a kiss between the two them.

Glancing back at him, Skinner grinned. "Go for it, John. Knock yourself out." Then he turned back to Maddi and resumed a juicy kiss.

Doggett shook his head. Okay then. He reached over to the night stand and snagged up the bottle of lube. Squirting a generous dollop in his hand, he turned back to the back of Skinner's head.

Charming. Without warming it, he slapped the gel right in the crack of Skinner's ass.

"Yow!"

Doggett grinned. "Hello? There is another person here," he said.

"Bastard, that was cold!" Skinner grumbled. "I always warm it for you."

"I always maintain eye-contact with you, while you're doin' it."

"Snitty."

"You want this?" He held up his glistening hand.

Skinner smirked. "I'd rather have this," he said, reaching back and grabbing Doggett by the dick.

"Hey! Let go!"

"What's the magic word?"

"Fuck you!"

"Nope. That's not it."

Maddi's head came up over Skinner's shoulder. "God, you're a couple of kids, aren't you?" She smacked Skinner's thigh. "Behave!" Then she reached over and swatted Doggett. "You too!" She held up her hand. "Let me spell this out for you, boys, as you seem incapable of getting along without bickering. You..." She jabbed Skinner. "Are going to lie quietly and let John take his time over you, like a good boy. And you..." She poked Doggett. "Are going to be gentle and loving... Or I am going to spank the pair of you til you scream."

Skinner raised his eyebrows and looked at Doggett. "What d'you reckon?"

Doggett shrugged. "Think she could take us both?"

The two men looked at Maddi then at each other. They nodded. "Probably." they said, together, then laughed.

Skinner sighed and leaned up to softly kiss Doggett. "I'm all yours, Big Dog," he said, and turned over to lie on his belly.

"Hey, I could do with your help at work," he told her, amazed at Skinner's compliance.

She snorted. "And just how much FBI stuff would get done, d'you think?"

Doggett ran his dry hand all the way down Skinner's back.

"Not a lot," he admitted. "But it'd be worth it to see a certain person's face."

Skinner's head came off the pillow. "You say his name at this point, and I'm outta here."

"Who might that be?" Maddi asked.

"You don't want to know," they both said at the same time again. Chuckling, Skinner put his head down, and Doggett leaned in to plant a line of kisses between his shoulder blades.

"That was nice," Maddi told him.

He looked up at her and winked. "I can be good," he said.

"Glad to hear it."

Slipping his shining fingers down the crease of Skinner's cheeks, he stopped as they jerked together in surprise.

Doggett leaned over and spoke softly."Relax, Walt. Let me do this for you."

Skinner turned his head. "Sure you're not doing it for you?"

Doggett smiled. "Nah. That's just a fringe-benefit." He moved the fingers up again, then down in a firmer stroke.

Skinner shivered and unclenched. "Nice," he muttered into the pillows.

"Good."

Then there was silence as Doggett worked diligently and gently on loosening the other man up. Having often been on the receiving end, so to speak, he knew what felt good, what worked on him. He assumed it would be the same for Skinner. And judging by the sighs and moans, he was on the money.

He pushed his fingers deeper, and Skinner took a sharp breath.

"Easy," Maddi touched Doggett on the arm.

"S'okay," Skinner muttered. "Didn't hurt. Felt good."

"Oh." She shrugged apologetically at Doggett. "Sorry."

He leaned over and kissed her briefly. "No problem."

The act of prepping Skinner was getting Doggett hot again. It felt as if he had been on the edge of coming for hours, and he supposed he had. He was the only one that hadn't. But that was okay. He knew he was gonna come like a freight train when he did this. It wasn't the first time he'd touched Skinner inside, but it would be the first time he followed it up with his dick.

And from its rigid position between his legs, it throbbed at him, telling him to hurry the hell up - stop thinking about it and just damn well do it.

"Okay, he said, reaching for the old towel they kept in the night stand. He nodded at Maddi. "Let's suit up."

She grinned in anticipation, and threw him a foil packet. "I'll do Walt, first. Okay?"

Doggett shrugged. "Sure."

He watched as this amazing woman pushed Skinner over onto his back and unrolled the condom onto his dick, using her mouth. The other man groaned in appreciation.

"How the hell..."

Giggling, Maddi took the other one from him and ripped it open. "Here. I'll show you. It's easy. Just pop it in front of your teeth and roll it down with your tongue and lips."

She pushed him onto his back and leaned over Skinner to deftly do the same thing to him. It took mere seconds - which was just as well, considering how horny he was.

"Shit, woman. Where'd you learn that?"

"Teacher Training," she said, primly, wiping her mouth.

"Hey, Skinner," Doggett nudged the other man. "We picked the wrong career."

An eyebrow raised. "Tell me about it."

"So..." She rubbed her hands together and surveyed two erect men. "Here's how it goes." She pointed at Skinner. "You, move over, those are my cushions."

Amused, Skinner shifted across the bed, towards Doggett, who looped his arms around his chest.

"Gonna keep me safe from her, John?" he smiled.

"Not a chance, Skinner," Doggett replied, holding him tighter and biting playfully on an exposed neck.

They both turned to look as Maddi spoke. "Well, gentlemen. Shall we begin?"

She had settled herself on the pile of pillows, her hips raised up at quite a steep angle, which in turn arranged her legs in a most inviting way.

Both men stared.

"Well?" she said.

Over his shoulder, Doggett watched Skinner's eyes widen then narrow, as the penny dropped. A low growl rattled in his throat, conjuring thoughts of primal creatures. And true to his vocal performance, Skinner crawled forward to bite the inside of Maddi's open thigh.

She squealed, laughing and grabbing at his head. "Stoppit!" He just bit further up.

And then a bit further, until he reached the conjunction of her legs, and the squealing was replaced by a low growl of her own.

Doggett stared at the sight in front of him, before his dick reminded hm that this was supposed to be a team event, and not a spectator sport.

He knee-walked forward and lightly slapped Skinner's backside.

"Hey, Walt, enough," he said. "You did that already."

"Just giving the lady what she likes." Skinner turned his head. "And if you keep doing that to me, I'm gonna turn you around and give your ass a thrashing."

"Ya think?"

"Yeah." Doggett teased, his hand raised.

"Try me."

Doggett put the hand down. "Okay. Okay. Just teasin'." He patted gently. He wondered if this was another part of the AD he didn't know about yet. And whether he should be worried about it.

He grinned and winked. "Another time, maybe."

Skinner huffed and kissed along the length of the naked thigh in front of him. "Now then. Where was I? Ah. Just about..." Maddi jumped. "There."

The only noise for the next few moments was Maddi's increasingly frantic whines as Skinner took care of business.

"God, Walter," Maddi finally gasped. "Enough already - I'm dying!" Her hands reached up and she grabbed him by the ears. "Inside me... Now!"

Laughing at the grunt Skinner gave, Doggett poked a finger in his thigh. "Hah! See how you like bein' pulled by the ears, man."

Maddi looked at him over Skinner's shoulder, laughing. "That explains a lot."

Doggett winced. "Thanks."

"Okay, people. Here we go then." Skinner braced himself on one hand and used his other to guide himself.

Maddi raised up a little more to help. "Just about..."

Doggett swallowed, watching as Skinner slid home, feeling his dick ache empathically.

Maddi heaved a heartfelt groan as Skinner slowly disappeared inside. "Oh, God... Yeeeah," she sighed.

*

Chapter 14.

Sitting back on his heels, Doggett indulged himself with staring at the sight of Skinner's raised ass gliding back and forth, tightening and releasing in a smooth rhythm that made his own hips rock slightly.

It was truly a glorious sight. The ass that drew eyes throughout the Bureau, raised and working away, right in front of him. Doggett grinned. God was good to him, sometimes.

He ran an appreciative hand across the cheek, fingers drawn to the centre. Oh, but he was gonna enjoy this.

He patted gently. "You 'bout ready for me, Walt?"

There was a low growl. "Oh yeah. Do it."

Happy to oblige, Boss, thought Doggett, raising up and settling himself behind Skinner.

Taking a hip in one hand, and his cock in the other, Doggett nudged himself up against the other man, his brow furrowed in concentration.

He could do this. He knew what to do... Pushing against the resistance of the tight muscle, he suddenly popped inside with a gasp. Forward motion carried him half the length of his dick.

"Oh shit... Shit!" Holding very still, Doggett took a breath and held on to it in his chest. This was tight. Christ! This was so fuckin' tight! He was sure if he moved now he was gonna come.

"Okay?" Skinner asked, turning his head slightly.

Doggett nodded, frantically. He ran his tongue over his lips and swallowed. "S'good." God, that was the understatement of the year!

"Yeah. Is, isn't it?" Skinner pushed back into his lap, impaling himself on Doggett, all the way to the root.

A strangled cry crawled out of Doggett's throat as the other man's hot ass came to rest against his groin. "Jesus!"

Taking both of Skinner's hips in his hands, Doggett tried to hold them both still, but Skinner's biological imperative to thrust into Maddi was taking control, the sounds of her small cries mingling with his deep grunts of satisfaction, their pleasure dictating Doggett's.

"God!"

Looking down to where they joined, Doggett watched his dick being dragged out of Skinner's body, then thrust back, in reply to the heaving of the hips under his hands. The sight was almost too much. He bit down on his bottom lip to distract himself. He wasn't gonna last much longer.

Underneath Skinner, Maddi began to make a high-pitched keening noise, her hands clawing at Skinner's shoulders, her obvious loss of control urging Skinner on, taking a helpless Doggett along for the ride.

"Oh, fuck!"

Hot skin under his hands, Doggett could feel the same silky sheen of perspiration on Skinner's hips that he knew was breaking out all over his own body. He tightened his grip, kneading at the bones in his hands, pulling on them to grind himself deeper into Skinner. He hoped he wouldn't be leaving bruises, but the way he was gripping the other man, couldn't swear there wouldn't be evidence of this tomorrow.

"Shit!" Skinner had told him this was good, but this... It was so fuckin' tight. So fuckin' hot. It felt like his dick was in a vice, milking him all the way from his root to his tip. His pubic hair was rasping against Skinner each time his ass pushed into him, the friction making his flesh raise up in goose pimples. He could feel his balls pulling up tight, all his nerve-endings rushing down to join in the riot going on in his dick. The mother of all parties was goin' on in his groin.

Doggett groaned, tightly screwing up his eyes. Don't come... Don't come, he chanted inside his head, trying to ignore the sound of Maddi reaching her climax.

He tried counting sheep. Reciting the Marine Code...Shit, he even tried picturing mountains of paperwork in the basement office.

It was no use.

Arching his back as his body finally gave up the unequal struggle not to explode, he yelled out, his hips jerked frantically against Skinner's ass, hands hanging on to Skinner's hips for dear life as he came hard enough to make his head burst.

*

"Hey, John?"

The insistent voice was accompanied by a gentle shake of his shoulder.

Doggett groaned and brought a limp hand up to scrub at his eyes. It felt like every bone had been replaced by silly putty. Nothing wanted to work right.

"You okay?" the voice asked.

Nothing a body-brace wouldn't cure, Doggett thought. He let his hand flop down and pushed a grunt out of his mouth.

"That's okay then." The owner of the voice kissed the side of his mouth.

Doggett opened one very tired eye. Skinner stared down at him, an amused smirk on his face.

"Hi there," he said.

Forcing his tongue out from between his teeth to see if his mouth wanted to work, Doggett squinted up. "Hi," he croaked, eventually.

"Is he still alive?" Maddi peered over Skinner's shoulder to grin down at him.

"Think so."

"How can you tell?"

Skinner ran a finger over Doggett's face. "He's frowning at me."

"Like I said: how can you tell?" Maddi chuckled, and reached over to run her hand through seriously mussed Doggett-hair.

"I heard that."

"So you are alive!"

Grunting again, Doggett batted her hand away. "Just about." A feeble hand wandered down his body to confirm it. He reached his dick and stopped in surprise.

Lifting his head he looked down. The condom was gone.

Shit! Had it come off? He looked at Skinner, in panic.

"Relax," he said, patting the hand, grinning. "I took care of it while you were away with the fairies."

Scowling, Doggett pulled a face. "Thank you. And I thought we agreed we didn't like that phrase."

Skinner shrugged. "I changed my mind."

"I didn't."

"Tough."

"He's allowed to do that," Maddi said, stifling a yawn.

"And that would be because...?"

"He's bigger than you."

"Ah."

Despite himself, Doggett smiled. Fuck it. If Skinner wanted to tease... Well, he was man enough to take it. That thought made his smile wider.

"What?" Skinner nudged him.

"Nothin'. Just thinkin'."

"About?"

"Which one of us that makes the bigger fairy."

Skinner inclined his head. "Touche." He bent his head to kiss Doggett's forehead.

Maddi stretched a hand over and stroked the side of Doggett's face, yawning hugely. "Well, if it's okay with you guys - I'm gonna skip the usual girlie post-coital snuggle." Flopping back onto the pillows, she wriggled her legs under the comforter. "I'm wiped out." She yawned again. "Thank you both very much, you were great, and goodnight." Snuggling down, she kissed the back of Skinner's neck, closed her eyes, and sighed.

Staring at her, already mostly asleep, Doggett and Skinner exchanged a look, then laughed.

Doggett leaned up and whispered over Skinner's shoulder. "Night, then, Maddi."

There was no reply.

Skinner chuckled. "Well that's that. Seems Miss Smith has left the building."

"Looks that way."

Doggett stared at Skinner for a long moment. "Thanks," he said.

"For?"

Smiling, Doggett waved a hand. "Y'know. This."

"Team effort, John."

Doggett shook his head. "No. I mean... talkin' me into it." A grin pulled at one side of his mouth. "Lettin' me... y'know."

"That, my dear Doggett, was entirely my pleasure."

"Yeah?"

"Absolutely."

"Good." Reaching up to cup his face, Doggett pulled the other man towards him.

"Mine too," he said, kissing him.

*

Chapter 15.

It was the clank of the water-pipes that woke him.

That familiar rattle as the hot water coursed through the house to the shower. Sound carried, and he hadn't been a particularly heavy sleeper since Beruit.

Opening his eyes, Doggett wondered who had made it to the shower first.

The warm hand across his belly told him it wasn't Skinner. He smiled and lifted the arm and slipped from under it, glancing back at the bed. Behind a large shoulder, Maddi was curled up with only the top of her head showing above the sheets.

Slipping into a pair of boxer shorts, Doggett padded out of the room.

So. It must be Sal in the bathroom. Trying to get rid of her hangover, no doubt.

Smiling to himself as he made his way down the stairs, he wondered just how bad his little sister's head was feeling. He'd better get the coffee on. She was gonna need all the help she could get.

Curling his toes at the feel of the cold wooden floor, he set about with the machine, filling and switching on, his body working on automatic pilot. He rubbed his eyes. Four cups. Sugar, spoons... Opening the freezer door, he peered in, skin goosing at the cold air. What for breakfast? Maybe not PopTarts. Toast? Eggs?

A bright bag behind the ice cream caught his eye. Bagels. Yep that was good. He grabbed them and slammed the door shut.

"Shit!"

Sally was standing right behind it.

"Dammit, woman! You scared the crap outta me!"

"And good morning to you, too, John," Sal grinned.

"Jeez!" Doggett shook his head. He must be gettin' old, that she could creep up on him like that.

As he leaned in to give her a kiss, she stepped back. Pointing at the bagels, she laughed. "You're not comin' near me with that!"

He held the bag up. "What? This?" he asked, innocently, pretending the thought of applying them to her flesh had never crossed his mind.

"Yeah, that. Lose the bag, Johnny-boy."

"You don't trust me?"

"Bout as far as I could spit an elephant."

"I'm hurt."

"You will be, if you touch me with that."

Grinning, Doggett put the bag on the counter and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "There. Didn't hurt a bit, did it?"

Huffing at him, Sal moved to perch on a stool, pulling her dressing gown around her.

"Coffee won't be long."

"Thank God! I either need caffeine, or a good slap, to get me going."

Grinning at her, he shrugged. "I can supply both, if you want."

A finger poked out of the folds of her terry-towelling.

"Oh, that's real nice."

"Yeah, well. It's pre-midday, the Morning After. Be real careful."

"I'm seein' a whole new side to you, young lady."

"It's early. This is the best you're gonna get."

"So... Sleep good?" he asked, popping the bagel bag in the microwave.

"Out like a light." She laughed. "Would seem I can't take the drink like I used to."

"Sign of old age." He took the stool next to her, leaning his elbows on the counter.

"Thank you, old one." Scratching the side of her nose, and wrinkling her face, she tilted her head at him. "You sleep well?"

Biting down, he willed himself not to blush. He was a grown man. His sleeping arrangements were of no concern to her - nor should they make him blush. Reaching for the wooden breadboard for something to do with his hands, he nodded. "Sure."

Christ! Think of something to change the subject! "That old sofa is pretty okay."

Oh piss up a rope, Doggett, he thought what a moron! Why d'ya do and say that?

"Sofa?"

He cleared his throat. "Yeah." God! This was gonna lead to questions. Why didn;t he sleep in his own bed? Who was in his... Shit! Think fast! He held up the breadboard. "You up to some breakfast?"

Sal nodded, frowning slightly. The wheels were turning inside her head, he just knew it. Might take a while for something to pop out, but he was sure a question would make an appearance soon.

The microwave pinged.

Thank God! Slipping from the stool, Doggett crossed over to the counter.

"One or two?" he asked, then had to turn and stick his head in the microwave to keep from laughing at what he'd said, and the mental picture it generated.

"What?" "Bagels," he said from behind the microwave door. "How many?"

"Oh. One, thanks."

He pulled the bag open, trying to get a grip on himself. He began to split the rolls, laying the pieces neatly, side by side next to the toaster.

"John?"

He didn't turn around. "Yeah?"

"The sofa?"

The question popped up like a dog-shit flavoured PopTart.

Shrugging, he stuffed the bag into the waste bin and busied himself with the coffee machine. "You want cream?"

"Sure."

Pouring into a mug, he heard the slither of robe on the stool. She was getting up. Damn!

"Sugar?" Stall!

"Nope." She reached his side, and leaned against the counter, looking at him. "What happened?" she asked.

The cascade of images that ran screaming through his mind would've made a whore blush.

What happened indeed. Passing her a steaming mug, Doggett's mind sat and shuffled through a selection of replies, considering each one, trying to decide which would stop him from being screamed at. Maddi was her friend. And while he was relatively sure Miss Smith wouldn't kiss and tell, he was also painfully aware that both she and Skinner were going to be making an appearance in his kitchen some time this morning, an event that was going to cause comment, if not outright hysterics. He stuffed bagels into the toaster and slowly pushed the lever down.

He chose the option labelled 'Coward'.

"What d'ya mean?"

"With you and Maddi, doofus. Last I looked, you and her were busy gettin' it on."

"Surprised you can remember anything about last night," he grinned, pouring himself a drink.

"I can remember enough to recall the way you were tryin' to count her teeth with your tongue."

"Shit!" Shaking the hot coffee from his hand, he reached for a towel. "Damnit, Sal!" He clamped down on all the colour in his body, willing it not to make an appearance on his face.

She held up a hand. "Hey! You were the one with..."

He frowned. "Okay... Okay."

"I'm just askin', that's all."

"Is it your business?"

"Well, pardon me for givin' a shit about you."

Sighing, Doggett pushed the towel away. "I'm sorry," he said, running a hand through his hair. "I'm just..." Embarrassed, he thought, but what he said was: "Tired, is all."

"Uh-huh." Putting her mug down, she reached up to fuss with his hair. "Bed-head," she told him, smiling. "It's all over the place."

"Can't do a thing with it."

"It's cute," she said, ruffling it. "But I mean it, John. I do care about you." She flicked under his chin, making him look at her. "I don't wanna see you hurt again."

Great. Now he felt like a complete shit.

"Sal..." He sighed. "I'm fine. Honest."

"Even with the sofa?"

He opened his mouth. "I..." And stopped. What was he gonna say?

He didn't sleep on the sofa?

Oh, yeah, sure. Then she'd ask where did you sleep? And: Who did you sleep with? And then: Why did you lie?

Uh-uh. Wrong answer. Try door number 2.

He frowned. "I don't wanna talk about it." Yes! That was what he should have said at the get-go! "You guys have a fight?"

What part of 'don't wanna talk' didn't she get? "No. Course not."

"Then what?"

God! It was worse than bein' married again! "We just decided..." His hands flapped, helplessly.

"Not to do the nasty?" Sal offered, helpfully.

He winced. "You have a way with words."

She smiled. "That's workin' with kids, for you." She folded her hand around her coffee mug, sipping at it.

Was that it? Had he gotten away with it? He stared, watching her drink. Maybe that was the end of the inquisition.

"So... If you and Maddi didn't bump uglies..."

Doggett winced.

"Then who gave you this?" He looked down as coffee-warmed fingers laid themselves on his chest, right between his nipple and his armpit. Right beside a purple and blue bruise. He stared.

No. Not a bruise, a love-bite. A hickey. A dermatological 'oh shit' sign.

And a dead give-away.

All the colour he thought he'd hidden safely inside, came crashing out of his guts to pound into his face, turning his ears a wicked shade of puce. His scalp prickled. He skin itched, and he knew damn well the blush was currently well on its way to joining her hand on his chest.

Fuck.

*

Chapter 16.

Option One: He could lie outright, and say he bumped into something.

Option Two: He could faint, bang his head and have to be carted off to hospital, therefore avoiding the question.

Option Three: He could just come clean and tell her Walt lay naked on top of him, suckling at his chest. And then she would faint, bang her head and would have to be carted off to hospital.

Decisions... Decisions.

And still her hand stayed on his chest, drawing both their eyes to the evidence.

It looked like a map of South Africa, he thought, staring.

"You've gone a real funny colour, John," she said at last.

He nodded. All things considered, he thought she was lucky he hadn't puked in shock.

"Wanna tell me about it?"

"Not really."

"Clear your conscience."

"About what?"

"Telling fibs."

He tilted her head and looked at her. "Fibs?"

"Well, either you're tellin' me tales about you and Maddi..." She smiled. "Or you and Walt are a whole lot closer than you let on."

He stared at her.

If he was going to say anything, then she'd just given him the opportunity on a plate. But could he do it? Taking a sip of his coffee with a surprisingly steady hand, he watched her staring at his chest, an amused grin playing on her lips.

How old was she again?

Was she old enough to hear that her big brother wasn't the man she thought he was?

"It looks like a tear-drop," she said, tracing the shape with her finger. She seemed to be finding this real funny. He wondered if he could change how she felt about that mark. He wondered if it would make her cry.

"I thought it was more like South Africa," he said, still looking at her.

"Not from this angle."

"Oh."

Her hand dropped. She took a drink. "So." Her blue eyes were steady. Her face calm. "Which is it?"

He took his courage and his guts and laid them out on the counter in front of her.

It would be up to her to give them back, or trample them underfoot.

"Walt," he said, genuinely surprised to find his voice was steady.

Sal nodded. "Thought so."

With a little smirk, she pushed herself off the counter and went to sit on the stool, leaving Doggett gaping, the hiss of the coffee machine competing with the white noise in his head.

His mouth dropped. What the hell?

The toaster spoke behind him, spitting up the breakfast.

She waved a hand. "Bagels are done."

Doggett banged his mug down on the counter, sloshing coffee over the surface. "Fuck the bagels!"

"John Jay Doggett!" Sal giggled. "What would Mamma say!"

Eyebrows shooting up into his hair, Doggett tried not to think about his mother's reaction to either his language, or his announcement.

"Never mind that - Whaddya mean, 'thought so'?"

Holding her hand over her mouth to keep from spluttering coffee everywhere, Sal coughed and wiped.

"Oh, babe, your face!"

He moved to stand in front of her. "Babe my ass! Answer the question!"

"Yessir!" She gave a clumsy salute and giggled again.

"Sal..."

"Oh, chill, Johnny. Keep your panties on - I didn't suspect a thing."

"But..." He scowled. "You're not surprised."

She shrugged. "I'm not."

"Why not?" God! Was he broadcasting 'queerness'?

Sal sighed and took hold of a hand. She bounced it up and down. "Relax. I'd never have guessed but..." She laughed and shook her head. "I stuck my head around your bedroom door this morning, to see if you were awake."

The mouthful of coffee flopped inside Doggett's belly. He hadn't heard a thing.

She smiled. "Anyway. Walt was curled around you like a big old glove. It looked real sweet."

To his surprise, the expected blush didn't materialise. "Oh."

"Yeah. 'Oh'." She shook her head, still smiling. "A bit of a surprise, what with you both bein' butt-naked an' all..."

Doggett's face spasmed and coloured up again.

"But sweet, all the same." The grin widened. "Imagine the wake-up call. I get my big brother's sexuality re-categorised, an eyeful of his bare ass, and my fantasies shattered in one go. No wonder I need my coffee."

He took a step towards her. "Sal..." he began, his voice trailing off , hopelessly. Christ! What could he say?

Visions of what she might or might not have seen ran through his head, flapping in the breeze, laughing at his embarrassment. He stared at the floor. This was horrible. Just horrible.

And then another vision trotted across his mind, trailing wickedly behind the dangly one. 

Maddi.

His eyelids sank down, trying to save him the humiliation of looking at the woman in front of him. He was never gonna live this down.

She'd never let him forget it. There were just too many possiblilities for teasing the shit outta him. Way too much mileage. No little sister worth her salt would let this pass. And Sarah Doggett had a long and shining history of tying him up in little knots.

He sighed and brought a weary hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. Damn.

"Did you..." How was he gonna put this?

She snorted. "Maybe I should be asking you that."

He squeezed his nose tighter. Shit.

"Let's just say I think a certain Miss Smith and I need to have a long chat, real soon."

Eyes snapped open. Oh my God, he thought. His mouth opened too, but under the circumstances, he wasn't surprised to find not a great deal came out.

The edges of Sal's mouth turned up.

Hope flared. Maybe she'd developed some compassion in the last few years. While she was over-developing her sexuality, perhaps?

"C'mon, John, it's not that bad."

His face twisted. "Y'think?"

She playfully punched his arm. "Hey, c'mon, soldier! Take it like a man!"

He stared open-mouthed at her innocent expression, and then her face crumpled and she bent over clutching her belly, laughing uncontrollably.

"Oh God!" she gasped. "I'm sorry - I couldn't resist that!"

Watching her choke and splutter, Doggett felt a tug at the corner of his own mouth. He supposed that a misplaced and vaguely sadistic sense of humour about this was better than tears and tantrums. Maybe, just maybe, it was going to be alright.

"So... . You okay with this?" He waved a hand at his chest. "With, y'know, Walt and me?"

She nodded, wiping her eyes. "Sure. Why not? You're a big boy now..." She grinned slyly, raising an eyebrow.

Doggett closed his eyes briefly, cringing.

"You get to live your life any way you please. Besides, I figure that if I think Walt's sexy, then why shouldn't you?"

He pulled a face.

"What? You don't think he is?"

"No... It's not that."

"Then what?"

He shrugged, slightly freaked that he should be having this conversation with his sister. "I dunno."

Sal sighed. "You're hopeless, John. If you can't even admit that much, then he shouldn't be sleeping curled up in your bed..." She tapped his chest. "And you certainly shouldn't be allowing this."

"Sally..."

She held her hand up. "Well? Should you?"

Sighing, he pushed her hand away. "You're a pain in the ass, you know?"

"Uh-huh. That's my job, as Little Sister. In case you didn't notice."

"It's kinda hard to miss."

"So?"

"So... What?"

She reached to brush his hair with her fingers. "D'you love him?"

Mouth opened, nothing came out. Fuckin' hell! What was this?

"Since when did you become my mother?"

Sal grinned "Hey! I'm happy for you to take this up with her."

Doggett frowned. "Not in this lifetime."

"How 'bout Papa?"

He grunted. "Yeah. I can just see that."

"Well then. That leaves me."

"Oh, joy."

"Stop bitchin'."

He glared at her.

She took hold of his chin with her hand. "I just want you to be happy." She shook her hand and his chin. "You are, aren't you?"

Doggett smiled. "Yeah."

"So you love him?"

God, she was relentless.

He looked at the floor. He hadn't allowed himself to ask this particular question, yet. Just a case of your common-or-garden typical male avoidance.

"Well?"

The floor was real interesting.

"This a one-night stand, then?"

He looked up. "No. It's been..." He sighed. "A coupla' months."

"And Maddi?"

He grinned, sheepishly. "An experiment. A moment of madness."

nodding, Sal narrowed her eyes. "So. What's the score with you and Walt?"

The floor called to him, wanting to be stared at. He was happy to oblige.

"John Doggett." A steely hand clamped to his chin and yanked his head up. "If you don't answer me right now, I'm gonna go up those stairs and ask Walt what he thinks is goin' on. 'Cause if you're just playin' around, he needs to know."

He stared. She wouldn't.

Her eyebrow twitched. She would.

He rubbed his eyes. Bossy women. They'd be the death of him. He sighed again, and looked at a pair of intense eyes that matched his own.

"Yeah," he admitted, sighing. "I love him, okay?" He snorted in derision. "Jeez! Who'd have thought?"

"Well. Not me, that's for sure." She pulled his chin towards her and kissed him. "But it's okay. I like Walt. He's a great guy."

Doggett nodded. He was.

"But I'll tell you something, Johnny..." A wicked grin spread over her face. "If you ever get bored; send him my way. I still think he's a hottie."

A grin spread all over Doggett's face as he wrapped his arms around her and squeezed hard. "Not a chance, babe. I saw him first."

Muffled by his shoulder, Sal snorted. "Damn. Story of my life."

"This a private party, or can anyone join in?"

They both looked up as Maddi wandered in, wearing one of Doggett's tee shirts.

"Hi, Mad!" Sal held a hand out and Maddi walked over to take it, giving her friend a hug.

"Mornin' Maddi," Doggett nodded, unsure of how to do this.

"Hi, Johnny," Maddi walked around him, patting his boxered butt. "Great underpants. Love what they do to your ass."

Sal laughed, pointing a finger. "You are so bad, girlfriend!"

Doggett rolled his eyes. She had no idea. Bad didn't begin to cover it, and he wasn't about to paint any pictures for her. He didn't even want to think about the pictures she already had in her head.

Maddi turned on the wide eyes. "Whatever do you mean, Miss Doggett?"

Sal grunted. "Seems I missed out big time. I want details, girlfriend."

A small, pathetic noise wormed its way out of Doggett's throat. She wouldn't?

Maddi ran a hand through her hair, grinning. "A lady doesn't kiss and tell."

Another snort from the sister from hell. "Yeah. So?"

Doggett made a little gesture, catching Maddi's eye. He pulled a face at her. She winked back, not reassuring him in the least.

"C'mon, Mad. Give." Sal tapped the counter.

Maddi shook her head, that grin still plastered all over her face, saying nothing, but giving away more than Doggett was comfortable with.

"Uh-uh. Nope."

"Not even a hint?"

Throwing a wicked glance over to Doggett, Maddi shrugged. "Creative writing is on your curriculum - use your imagination."

Sal laughed loudly, making Doggett's belly clench. "Oh man!" She held up a hand. "I can see it now: Children, I want you to write me a story about two FBI men and a English teacher..."

"Sally..." Doggett growled.

"Okay, okay." She rolled her eyes, tutting. "No sense of humour."

Maddi chuckled, slipping on to another stool. "So, Madam. Let's change the subject before your poor brother pops a blood vessel." She pointed to her head. "How're you feeling the morning after the night before?"

Sal shrugged. "Pretty okay, I guess."

Maddi snorted. "You don't deserve to, the amount you put away."

"Strong Southern constitution," Sal said, bunching her fists and flexing her biceps.

"Alcoholic," Maddi said, smiling.

Doggett cleared his throat. "Maddi, you wanna try some breakfast?"

"Sure. What've you got?"

He scratched the back of his neck. "I'm doin' bagels, and coffee right now."

Maddi nodded. "Great. Black, one sugar, please." She turned to Sal as Doggett moved to get her coffee. "That man is such a doll."

"Isn't he?"

"Uh-huh. And such a great ass."

"You think?"

"Come on, Sal... Whaddya want? It's tight, cute and hard. What more could a girl ask for?"

"Maybe not a blood relative?"

"Well, there is that." Both women giggled.

"Must you?" Doggett turned, hands on hips. How was he supposed to deal with this?

"Oh, Johnny, sure we must!" Maddi winked. "Being as you've gone to such trouble to make the view so enticing, this morning!"

Shit.

Doggett looked down, conscious of his state of undress. Maybe the no tee-shirt move wasn't such a great idea.

He unfolded his arms, trying not to bring them round to cover himself. "Gimme a break, here."

"Not a chance, gorgeous."

Sighing, he turned back to buttering bagels, acutely aware of two pairs of eyes on his body. "Perverts," he muttered, as the whispers fluttering in from behind him.

"Good morning, ladies." Skinner's deep voice cut across the giggles. Doggett turned. Skinner nodded at him. "John."

"Hi." The other man had had the presence of mind to dig out another of Doggett's tee-shirts.to wear with his jeans. Dammit, he should have thought to do that.

"Morning, Mr Skinner," Sal patted the stool the other side of hers. "Sit yourself down."

"Hi there, Walt."

Doggett watched Maddi wave across the work surface. She didn't seem at all fazed by the fact that she had just slept with two of the three people in the room.

The idle thought that maybe she'd be okay sleeping with all of them skittered across his mind on broken legs, but he swatted it dead and went back to applying butter.

He most definately did not want to think of his sister in that context.

Carrying the bagels across the kitchen, he snagged cream cheese and jelly from the fridge.

"Help yourselves," he told them, going back for Skinner's coffee. Without thinking, he bent to pick up a fallen teaspoon.

"Nice view," Maddi said, whistling.

"Not bad," Sal agreed. "But I think Walt has the edge."

"Why thank you," said Skinner.

"Goddammit!" Doggett slammed the spoon down, blushing. "Will you two give it a rest!"

Maddi smiled. "Probably not."

"Why should we?" Sal asked, innocently.

"Because..." Doggett ground his teeth, trying to think of a sensible reason as to why he shouldn't receive compliments.

"Hey, Big Dog..." Skinner held a hand up. "Lay back and let the ladies have their fun."

Several choice retorts about lying back and letting ladies have fun jostled for position on Doggett's tongue, but he swallowed them all down and frowned.

"I mean," Skinner continued, ignoring the murderous look on Doggett's face. "You really do have a great butt."

There was a moment of utter silence, and then both women fell across the counter in fits of laughter, while Skinner just sat back and smirked.

Doggett folded his arms and listened to the hysterics at his expense, his face knotted up in disapproval.

"Oh, Jesus, Walt!" Maddi gasped, holding her sides.

Sal did a high-five with him. "Oh, you rock, Skinner! Look at his face!" She wiped tears from her eyes. "That was priceless!"

Skinner shrugged, the epitome of smug.

Doggett growled inside. Bastard. So much for solidarity within gender. He watched as the two women fussed over the other man, who sat, unaccountably pleased with himself, enjoying every moment.

He winked at Doggett.

That was it.

He was dead.

Unfolding his arms, Doggett prowled across the kitchen. Skinner was gonna get his.

No prisoners.

"Hey, John, come and have something to eat." Maddi reached out and took his arm, pulling him to the counter, interrupting his attack.

"Let's put some meat on those bones." She chuckled, running a hand down his ribs.

"Never happen," Sal told her, reaching for the jelly. "Always been as skinny as a greased weasel."

"Can but try." Maddi put half a bagel on a plate in front of him. "There y'go."

Doggett picked it up with amazingly bad grace and bit down, staring at Skinner. He stared back, still grinning in triumph. Doggett scowled.

"You'd think it'd be genetic, but no - I'm a martyr to my waistline." Sal sighed and picked up another slice.

"I think you look just fine," Skinner told her.

Sal batted her eyelids at him. "Why, thank yew, Mistuh Skinnuh, suh."

"Some people like 'em skinny, anyways," Maddi said, craning her head to look Doggett's body up and down. "Must say I'm quite partial, myself."

Doggett swallowed a large mouthful and snatched a glance at Skinner. Smug bastard.

As he took another savage bite, butter dripped out, down onto his chest. Damn.

Sighing, he snatched a quick glance up to see if anyone had noticed and watched in amusement as Maddi's eyes follow the grease. She didn't seem to be able to tear her gaze away.

"Well, damn," he said, looking down at himself, clucking and shaking his head. "Wouldya look at that."

"Absolutely," Maddi said, watching as the shining lines slithered over his sternum and lazily traced down towards his belly. "What a messy boy," she told him, absently.

Glancing up, Doggett was pleased to see Skinner's eyes also glued to the progress of the grease down his chest. Perfect. If he wasn't very much mistaken, it was time for payback. Here we go, he thought, chuckling inside.

He put his bagel down and reached for a piece of kitchen towel. Clutching the paper square, he walked slowly around the two women, three pairs of eyes following his progress, until he stood in front of Skinner."Wanna help me out here?" he asked, quietly.

Ignoring the snorts of laughter from behind him, Doggett stared at the other man, challenging, waiting. Skinner's mouth dropped open in surprise.

Doggett watched as an equal measure of lust and embarrassment swept across Skinner's face. Gotcha, big time, he thought, a warm thrill of triumph fluttering in his belly. Skinner wasn't the only one that could yank chains around here.

And then he jumped, taking in a sharp breath as hands laid on him, and Skinner took the towelling and began to wipe the grease from his chest, carefully and gently.

"Messy boy," Skinner told him, echoing Maddi, taking great care to smear the butter around so that he had an excuse to venture further. Doggett leaned into the touch.

Across the dip in his chest, it scratched over one of Doggett's nipples, bringing them both leaping to attention. The payback was rapidly turning into something else.

As he wiped, Skinner's other hand lay high up on Doggett's side, resting next to the bruise he had made the night before. A thumb brushed over it.

"Is that better?" Skinner asked, looking up into his face. Was he talking about the bruise, the grease or something else? Doggett wasn't sure.

"Thank you, Walter," he said in a voice he dragged over his voice box, until it was all scratchy. He was rewarded with another wave of desire washing over the other man's face.

Sal snorted from behind him. "You're a bad boy, John Doggett."

"Who? Me?" He shrugged, without looking at her, held captive by deep brown eyes.

"Yeah, you. I'd say so, wouldn't you, Walt?"

"Yeah," Skinner replied, not taking his eyes from the face in front of him. "Bad to the bone."

The thumb pressed against his side again.

Secret messages? Doggett pulled in a breath, stretching his ribs against the hand, sending a secret message back.

And then it hit him. Smack between the eyes and right in the guts.

It wasn't a secret here. Not in this room. Not to any of the people sitting at this counter, anyway.

He smiled.

Okay, Mr. Skinner, hold on to your hat. I'm comin' in.

Reaching down, he put his hand to Skinner's face and dipped his head to put his mouth over Skinner's.

Smiling around the kiss, he felt Skinner gasp in shock, and pull away a little, before accepting the inevitable and relaxing.

Oblivious to anything that might have been going on behind his back, Doggett opened his mouth and tried to communicate how he felt about the other man, to his delight, finding that Skinner was more than happy to reciprocate, audience or not.

Finally coming up for air, he lifted his head to place a gentle kiss on Skinner's forehead, closing his eyes a moment.

The hands that had been resting on his hips throughout the embrace, now slid around him, pulling his body between spread knees. Skinner's head rested on his chest, turned to one side.

"Wow..." he heard Sal whisper behind him. "That was..." she trailed off.

"Hot?" Maddi offered.

"You bet."

Doggett opened his eyes and looked down. Brown eyes met his with a smile.

"Told you," he heard Maddi chuckle.

"Yeah, but..." Sal whistled.

Doggett turned his head, incredulous. "You told her?"

Maddi waved a hand. "We were discussing a general two-guy thing, moron, not you."

He grunted. "Oh."

Sal leaned round, grinning at him. "Hey! But now we're on the subject..."

"No." He shook his head, wincing.

"Johhhhhn..." she whined.

"You hear me?"

"But..."

"No! Definately not!"

"No, what?" Skinner peered around Doggett's body.

Doggett shook his head. "Nothin'."

"This another of those sibling things?" he asked Maddi.

"Think so," she said, shrugging.

"Weird."

"Tell me about it."

"Skinner?" Doggett pulled his face around to look at him.

"What?"

"Shut up."

A big hand came up and snagged his wrist. "And you get to tell me what to do because...?"

The morning was fast becoming a bench-mark for outrageous revelations. His sister had discovered what he was doing, and was okay with it, and even more outrageous, he had discovered why he was doing what he was doing, and he was more than okay with it.

All he had to do was tell Skinner.

Smiling, Doggett leaned down and put his mouth next to Skinner's ear. He whispered softly, hoping he wasn't making the biggest mistake this side of his divorce.

"'Cos I love you, Fat-ass," he said.

Neither man moved for a moment, then Skinner pulled away and stared.

Shit. Doggett's heart sank. This definately qualified as an Oh. My. God. moment. Had he just gone and overstepped the mark? He suddenly felt a touch queasy.

Skinner blinked slowly a couple of times, stretching Doggett's nerves.

"Yeah?" he said finally.

Doggett shrugged, trying to act casual. "Looks that way."

Skinner pulled in a breath, and sighed. "Well..." he said, shaking his head. "It's a good job I love you too, then isn't it?"

The air trickled out of Doggett in a hiss of relief and behind him two girls chorused "Aaahhhh!"

"Bastard," Doggett said, shaking his head and grinning.

"Skinny-assed sack of shit," Skinner replied.

"Over-developed, muscle-bound gorilla."

Sal slapped Doggett on the shoulder. "Hey! That's no way to talk to my brother-in-law!"

He turned to look. "What?"

She grinned at him. "Well, now you two are a couple..."

Doggett held up a finger in warning. "Not one more word, y'hear?"

"We gonna have a ring-exchange ceremony or...."

"Sal..." Doggett moved towards her, finger threatening.

"Oooh! Maybe you're gonna get a chocolate Lab and some cats..." Laughing, she slipped from the stool and ducked away from an advancing brother.

"I'm warning you, Sarah Doggett..."

"You gonna tell Mom and Dad, or shall I?"

"You little...!!"

She squealed and skidded around the stools as Doggett dived for her. "Too old - too slow!" She stuck her tongue out. "Hey! You gonna get your ear pierced, Johnny?" she asked, safe on the other side of the counter.

There was a snort of laughter from the other end of the worksurface.

"I don't think drawing any more attention to those things is a such a great idea."

Incredulous, Doggett turned to look at Skinner. "What did you say?"

Skinner shrugged.

Doggett shook his head. "I don't believe you said that."

"Hey... Just an opinion."

"Yeah? Well 'fuck you' is my opinion."

Skinner grinned and opened his mouth. Doggett held up his finger again.

"Uh-uh. No. Don't say it. Whatever it is. Just don't say it."

"You have a dirty mind, Agent Doggett," Skinner shook his head. "I should recommend you for psych evaluation."

"Yeah?" Doggett nodded. "I need it, gettin' myself involved with my boss."

"God, Johnny!" Sal leaned forward. "You never said he was your boss."

"I didn't?"

"Nope. No way."

Doggett shrugged. "Musta slipped my mind."

Maddi snorted. "Maybe when you had your tongue down his throat?"

"Please." Doggett pulled a face.

"So... If he's your boss," Sal tapped the counter with a nail. "Maybe it'd be okay to come see the FBI place where you work. Like a guided tour, y'know?"

"Nah. We want to see the unofficial bits - not the guided tour," Maddi tapped the side of her nose, grinning. "We wanna see where you two work. Where you play." She laughed.

Doggett rolled his eyes. Visions of his sister and her mad friend screaming through the halls of the Hoover building made his butt clench. "No way. No. Not ever."

Maddi moved a bagel around on her plate. "We could pop in, before we have to go back to work tomorrow."

"We'd be good. Honest," Sal said, rubbing her hands in excitement.

"No. You wouldn't," Doggett said, sadly.

"God, you're no fun, John Doggett," complained Sal, sitting back in her chair and flicking crumbs over towards him.

Maddi chuckled. "Oh, I don't know." She licked butter from her fingers. "He's not that bad, all things considered."

"I'll second that," said Skinner, his raised eyebrow making Maddi laugh.

He stared at Skinner who had picked up a cloth and was happily throwing it back and forth to Sal. He shook his head in wonder.

Was this his staid and sensible boss? What had happened to the starched-shirt man who's bark sent grown agents running for cover?

He smiled as his sister fussed with Skinner, slapping his fingers and teasing.

Apparently this funny, loving guy in his kitchen was what hid behind that tough FBI facade.

And all things being equal, it was kinda nice, being with him.

As if feeling his gaze, Skinner looked up and winked at Doggett.

He grinned back, and had the sneakiest feeling that with a big hairy gorilla in it, the rest of his life was going to be real interesting.

Fini.

  
Archived: December 29, 2001 


End file.
